Star Fox: G Wing
by SF Ghost
Summary: COMPLETE! Three humans are handpicked from Earth to work with the Star Fox Team in Lylat. And it quickly turns out that their videogaming skills are desperately needed... for military purposes! Rated T for violence and language. Please R&R!
1. Introduction & Character Bios

**_Star Fox: G-Wing_**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Star Fox. Fox McCloud, Krystal, the Star Fox Team, and any and all places and characters associated with Star Fox are property of Nintendo. All rights reserved. The computer game "World of Warcraft" (WoW) mentioned herein is property of Blizzard Entertainment. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. The characters Shield, Saber, Ghost, Von Ernst and other characters and places not mentioned in the Star Fox-games are property of SF Ghost, aka. Jakob Meerwald Jensen, circa 2004.

Yeah, just thought I would get the legal stuff out of the way quickly...

Hello, everyone, and welcome to my first fanfic! This story will feature the arrival of a new and untraditional team of soldiers to the Lylat System, where they will be assigned to work with Team Star Fox. And this, I promise you, will not be boring at all! (Well, because this is my first fic, the action and descriptions may perhaps be a little "weak" from chapter 1-5, butfrom number 6 and onwards it will pick up, I am sure.)

New chapters will be uploaded regularly (every 4-7 days).

Any comments to or questions about the fic can be sent to the e-mail address, which is displayed in my Author's Profile, and I will answer them as they come.

So, without further ado, let's get this popping! Enjoy!

**Team G-Wing Dossiers **

**Sergeant Mikki (Shield): ****  
**

If you need something destroyed, Mikki's the man! His extraordinary strength, stamina and crushing fighting style make him a force to be reckoned with. Humorous, open-minded and with a positive attitude, he always dives head first into a fight and does not think about the consequences before they are upon him... if they ever manage to get that far! He has always seen himself as a person, who does not want to give other people orders, but who likes to be given orders from other people; that partially explains his rank. He upholds his rank of sergeant with extreme honour and sense of duty, and Shield's Gatling gun and rocket launcher are powerful weapons that he uses with exceptional professionalism. So… "Have a nice day!" (Shield's favourite line.)

**Lieutenant John (****Saber): **

Lieutenant John's impulsive nature and show-off attitude have often brought him into trouble with the Cornerian Army Command. But still, he can pull off almost any mission with no problems at all. Saber's swift martial arts skills combined with an excellent swordsmanship with his katana are astounding attributes that make him lethal in just about any encounter. That he can also wield a rather slow, but powerful, blaster in combination with his vicious fighting style is just another bonus, which results in a deadly flurry of attacks. He is a great judge of character, and can be serious when the situation presents itself, although both of these things rarely show. But for these rather hidden qualities, the Cornerian Army deemed it safe to grant him the rank of lieutenant. He always likes to taunt opponents, especially with his newest line, which is usually sung as "Another One Bites the Dust": "You want some of John's _blade_?…". On a side note, he also holds a great reverence for Coca-Cola.

**Commander Jakob (****Ghost):**

Calm and reflective, although a bit too commanding at times, Commander Jakob is the highest ranking member of G-Wing. The decision to grant him the rank of commander was made by the Cornerian Army not only due to the notable results he earned in the tests, but also because of his pretty keen intellect, and his interest in and knowledge about physics; particularly that which is concerned with space-time. He is always deeply focused on the mission, and does whatever it takes to ensure its success. Even though the eyesight on his blind left eye has been restored by a vision intensifier, his visual conditions are not quite optimal for elite ops on the other eye. Hence, he is assigned to most missions along with Krystal of the Star Fox Team, just to keep him safe, and the two of them have developed a strong bond of trust and an incredible feeling of friendship and devotion towards one another in the time they have served together. However, Ghost is also perfectly aware of the true love, which exists between Fox and Krystal, and he does not want to be the destroyer of this love in any way, be it through personality or action. With his trademark dual-wielded laser blasters and laser SMGs, notable martial arts skills and perfect coordination with his partner, Ghost is not to be underestimated. He does not have a favourite line, but instead a memorized collection of different quotes, which can be put into use in fitting situations.


	2. Chapter 1: Training Session

**Chapter 1: Training Session**

From Lieutenant John (Saber)'s log: _Okay, although we've been here for almost six months now, I'm wiping the slate clean and starting on a new series of entries. Day 1: Training at the Great Fox. Sucked. Day 2: Wiped Falco's ass in Starfox Assault. OWNAGE FOR ME! Day 3: Training session w/ new recruits at the Cornerian Fleet Academy (CFA). Sucked BIG-TIME! __  
_  
The doors slammed against the wall as the tidal wave of new recruits ran to their seats in the large auditorium of the CFA. Kevin Baker was among them. He had an exciting lesson this day and his teacher would be a member of the highly trained G-Wing, the new elite unit that had come to work with the Starfox Team. From what Kevin had heard, the G in their name would be an indication of their true nature.

It stood for Gamers' Wing. The fact that they were humans and not Cornerians also added to this speculation. And furthermore, from what Kevin knew, they had come to the Lylat System from Earth, their home planet, by something they thought to be an act of lunacy. As they had been gaming on Earth after a perfectly normal day spent at their high school - and they were full-fledged video gamers; that was certain - three Arwings had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They decided to check it out, and before they knew it, they found themselves climbing aboard the ships. But the Arwings had been preset with an auto-pilot, and as soon as they were in, the ships had taken off and flown to the Lylat System, where they had landed on the Great Fox. Here, Fox and his crew had accepted them as another team to work by their side and had put them through various training runs at different Cornerian military installations. After that was completed, they were formally given membership of the Cornerian Army, and they had each been given a rank based on the results of the tests and the general impression, which the officials from the Army had gotten of them. And it truly looked like the tests had been a success, for G-Wing had drawn quite a large amount of attention to themselves and their name over the past six months. They had pulled off highly dangerous missions with hitherto unseen skill and precision, and they worked together with the Star Fox Team just fine, despite their racial differences. Fox had officially explained that the decision to bring them in was based on their enormous skill and experience with fighting- and war-games on Earth. As Fox said, the Cornerian Army had only helped in increasing these skills to be put to practical use. Besides, as Fox stated, it was fun to work with someone who was not Lylatian for a change.

Teaching at the CFA was not something that G-Wing did very often, so Kevin felt extremely honoured. The first lesson today – the one which he was attending – was "Heavy Weapons and their Use in Combat" with sergeant Mikki. As Kevin walked down the steps of the auditorium, he could see him standing at the bottom.

He was an extraordinarily large person, but Kevin had the impression that most of his mass was muscle and not fat, as other of the recruits whispered to each other, laughing. He was clad in a heavy military fatigue with intricate camouflage patterns on it. On top of that he wore a big, protective flak jacket with a single, crude walkie-talkie strapped to it. Also strapped to it were some standard-issue Cornerian hand grenades, as well as an extra energy cell for the weapon that hung from his side; A heavy plasma Gatling gun, that looked like the Cornerian version of a real Gatling gun; only it was much smaller and made in a handier design than the original mounted version, so that it was possible to carry it around, like a very large assault rifle in a sense. An energy cell protruded from the underside of it. It held, approximately, 300 plasma charges, which were dispatched in rapid succession when the gun was fired. And finally, he had a rocket launcher across his back. His feet were placed in a pair of sturdy, battle-worn military boots.

"All right, men! _At ease!_" he bellowed suddenly and the entire class fell silent. He began to wander around while he spoke. "Today I'll teach you how to blow things up. And not only that, but you'll also learn how to blow the crap out of the thing you've already blown up. And finally, I'll teach you how to blow the thing that you've already blown up twice, directly back to Hell. Is that clear?"  
The class answered him with a synchronic "Sir, yes sir!" mostly because they did not know what to answer. But there was no doubt in their minds now that he was for sure a heavy weapons and demolitions specialist.

"Okay, let's see… You there!" he said and pointed at a young, pale man with glasses. "Come down here!". The young man walked down to a table in the middle of the room, while Mikki went over to some boxes that stood in a corner. From one of them he took a massive rocket launcher with – so it seemed – no effort and placed it on the table. It was exactly the same as the one that hung across his back. "Now, tell me, what is this?"

"A GX-23 homing rocket launcher, sir! Designed by Cornerian Weapons R&D. Fires depleted uranium rockets with only a small amount of radiation!"

Mikki smiled. "Good. You've done your homework. This thing can become your best friend on the battlefield when no-one else is around. Take good care of it, and it'll take good care of you, too. Now fire it at that target over there!" he said, as a target came up from underneath the floor through a trapdoor.

The young man started to sweat. He tapped at the weapon carefully. "But, sir, I can't fire it in here. This is an auditorium of the CFA, you know, and I…"

"Oh, enough of that! Watch me!" Mikki shouted at the young man as he grabbed hold of the rocket launcher, spun around and pulverized the target with a single, ear-splitting shot. It took just one second. He dropped the now empty launcher and turned around again to face the class. The young man stood there, quivering.  
"What use is it to you that you know all the specs of a weapon but can't handle it properly in a fight? _No use_! You really need to work on your weapon-handling, recruit! OK, let's move on. The next thing is… "  
Suddenly, his radio began to scratch. Mikki loosened it from its strap and talked. "Yeah, this is sergeant Mikki. Is it you, Fox? What… OK, I get it. I'll be there in a minute. See you!". He strapped his radio on again and said to the class "Class dismissed for today. Work on your weapon-handling till we meet again, all of you. And have a nice day!", whereupon he vanished in a flicker of teleportation. "Damn!" Kevin thought to himself, "I didn't get his autograph!"

While all this was happening, another class was having "Exotic Fighting Techniques"  
with Lieutenant John. He was a sleek, thin person with long black hair that was hidden under a cap with the Kamikaze sign that he wore on his head. The cap was his pride. He had killed to avenge it many times when relentless enemies had knocked it off his head. Today he was dressed in a specially fabricated battledress, which was very durable and could adapt to the acrobatic fighting style he mastered without hindering his movement. He wore a grey T-shirt on top of his battle-dress and finally he had a vest, which was a dusty grey colour. As Mikki, he also wore military boots, but these were much more like an ordinary pair of boots, except that they were more flexible than such a pair. Across his back, a sharp katana was hanging in its sheath, which had the words "Saber. G-Wing commando unit" engraved on it. At his left side, a very powerful, but slightly old-school, blaster was strapped, along with two extra energy cells for it: It was shaped like an old Colt revolver, which had an energy cell inserted where the normal 6-bullet chamber was supposed to be. This energy cell held 12 shots, which were fired rather slowly, but each of them held a pretty devastating power for a blaster shot. He looked at the class with a humorous glint in his eyes. But those who knew him were aware, that this glint also represented his eternal watchfulness.

"Right, people, listen up.", he said. "Today we'll practise some of the most common exotic techniques and afterwards, we'll chill. Is that clear?"

A grave-like silence fell across the room, but then one of the recruits asked, with great wonder in his voice: "Chill, sir?"

"Yeah, you know, relax, cool down, that sort of thing!" John said in a tone of voice which meant that he did not really care about explaining the phenomenon. "Since you are so eager to ask, let's start with you, then. Come down.". The recruit went down the stairs with a wide grin on his lips. In the middle of the room, a circular arena with trapdoors along the side had been constructed. The recruit walked to John, who lent him his katana and blaster.

"Okay, walk into the arena and imagine that you're in a desolate outpost which has just sent an SOS. You are to investigate that signal. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!", the recruit said and walked briskly into the arena. When he was in the middle, the trapdoors sprang open and cork-targets came up. The recruit immediately ran over to the nearest side and began hacking away at the targets, but before he could do much more, John had reset the exercise. The targets disappeared to be replaced by new ones.

"Haven't you prepared yourself for today, you idiot!" John shouted at the gaping recruit. "You need to do "The Half-Moon Dive" in such a situation. Watch this!" he said, walking into the arena with the katana in the right hand and the blaster in the left. As the targets sprang up, he immediately flung himself horizontally through the air. While he was in midair he swung his katana in a half-moon slice through the targets to the right while he blasted away at the targets to the left. He landed, made a roll, and stood on his two feet again before the dust from the crippled targets had settled. He turned to face the reaction of his class. They were all in awe, dead silent. But then the recruit, who had been tested earlier, said: "You're sick, dude!"

"Thanks, dude!" John replied. "Now, let's chill… wait a sec.!" he said as a digital tune sounded from the cell phone in his pocket. It stopped as fast as it came. But then it started again. "Gay phone!", he shouted, found his phone and slammed it repeatedly against the desk. After five slams there was a connection. "Yeah, this is _Lieutenant_ John speaking. Falco, is it you? Are you pissed about yesterday? Oh I think so because: "Yesterday, all of your trouble seemed so far away… dam dam dam… now it looks… " What? _Oh crap!_ I'll be there! Chill, dudes!" he said to his class as he put his cell phone back in his pocket and disappeared in a flicker of teleportation.

At the same time as these two events were taking place, a third class came into another room to practise "STTC (Small Team Tactical Combat) and Dual Wielding" with commander Jakob. He was a skinny and thin person with dark-blond hair which often curled across his forehead in a most peculiar way (Mikki and John referred to this as the "Homo-arc"). He wore a grey battledress with a belt around his waist. In this belt, two blasters were strapped in holsters and - a bit further down the leg - two other holsters were strapped. They held laser SMGs. Five energy cells shaped like ordinary gun magazines sat in the belt. The four of them were separate; the last one was a "click-magazine": two separate magazines that were strapped together. This fitted into one of his SMGs. Each magazine held 90 shots and since his blasters were his primary weapons, they were fired in a moderate pace and could each be reloaded twice, due to the four separate magazines. That he could only reload one of his SMGs did not matter to him. 180 shots sprayed out at a fast pace from each gun were more than enough to take care of every enemy in the few cases when he was completely surrounded. He wore a long black leather trenchcoat and black leather gloves on top of all this. There was nothing special about his boots; not extra sturdy or extra flexible, just ordinary military boots. Across his left eye, which was blind, was a Cornerian-made vision intensifier, which could give him a quite clear outline of the surroundings to his left by stimulating the damaged vision nerve directly. Along with giving him almost normal eyesight, the vision intensifier came equipped with several auto-aiming features that allowed him to track his targets more efficiently in a fight. He looked authoritatively at his anxious class and spoke up with a distinctive British accent.

"Okay, now, pay close attention. Dual wielding is not an easy art to master, especially not with only one normal eye. It requires the utmost concentration and finely tuned senses. However, you'll not have the time to attune your senses in combat, but once you've learned how to do it, you'll never forget it. Let's try with you." he said to a recruit on the front row. He got up and walked out on the floor, donning a big smirk on his face. "Show-off!" Jakob thought to himself, but he did not say it. Instead, he handed the recruit his two blasters, and pointed to a large spot on the floor surrounded by trapdoors. "Go and stand there. The enemies will pop up from every angle and side, so stay alert. Oh, and they'll shoot tennis balls to simulate real blaster fire, so if you take 5 hits, you're out. I hope that you've read the theory for today about dodging and covering; because I'm coming with you to simulate that you have a partner on this mission. Your job is to provide cover for me and vice versa. Let's go!" Jakob said, drawing his SMGs.

As he did so, the trapdoors opened and the cork-enemies flew up from their holes. Jakob twisted and dodged the first pair of balls. Then he extended his arms and began to swirl around himself, dealing short salvoes to all sides while still twisting and dodging. His moves were linked in a curious way. They were short, timed and accurate, so that eventually he looked to the class like a strange whirlwind of black trenchcoat leather and white laser fire that blasted cork out of existence.  
The recruit had already been hit several times. He fired a few helpless shots, which only resulted in him letting his guard down. That again resulted in a tennis ball right to the face. Jakob stopped the simulation when he heard a slight "Hmmmmmm!" from the recruit. He looked at him as he stood there, trying to be cool with one hand on his aching jaw. Jakob stared him down for a moment, and then said matter-of-factly:

"Well, I can see why you failed. You've never practised dual wielding before, you didn't keep your wits about you and, most importantly, you didn't know your partner. Let me tell you something: Knowing your partner is the key to survival. I can't fight that well on the ground myself, so that's why I often get assigned to missions along with Krystal. And we've been through so much now, she and I, that I can understand every glance she sends me in the midst of combat. So, what's the most important thing in STTC?".

The recruit chose his words carefully, as not to upset Jakob. "To…know and look after your partner, sir?". "Precisely! You'll learn it someday", Jakob said to him as the recruit handed him his blasters. All of a sudden, Jakob's comm. unit in his ear crackled lightly. He held a finger at it. "Yes?" he said into the small microphone hanging along his cheek. "Ah, Krystal, it's you. Yeah? _What the_…! No, it can't be! I'll be right there. Remember what I've told you!" he said to the class before he disappeared in a flicker of teleportation.

All three of them appeared on the bridge of the Great Fox. Before them stood the other members of the team: Fox, Falco, Krystal, Peppy, Slippy and ROB. As soon as John saw Falco, he started to taunt him. "Hey, Falco, what's up? Shall I own you again?". He started to do a weird humping dance and sing the melody "Another One Bites the Dust" with new-made lyrics. "You want some of John's _blade_… huh… you want some of John's _blade_…". The other two did not look at him at all. "Is it true what we've heard, Krystal?" Jakob asked. "Please, Fox, tell me it isn't so!" Mikki exclaimed.  
"I'm afraid every word is true." Fox said gloomily. "Sauria is under attack!"  
"They want some of John's _blade_… huh… they want some of John's _blade_..."


	3. Chapter 2: Dark Saurian Sky

**Chapter 2: Dark Saurian Sky ****  
**  
From commander Jakob (Ghost)'s log: _15:07, Lylatian Standard Time. We were told that Sauria was under attack and that things looked pretty nasty down there. Rumours of EarthWalker- and CloudRunner extermination camps had reached our ears and intelligence also suggested that the enemy had taken over some of the old ruins of the Krazoa to use them as battle fortifications. The enemy was identified as a splinter faction of the Cornerian Army calling itself the Crimson Veil, because it would "leave a veil of crimson blood in its wake", as they said in a holographic statement. When we heard this we scrambled to the drop ships. As usual, I was put with Krystal, while Mikki and John were assigned together. They were all very excited, but as the ships descended through the dark Saurian sky, I was suddenly afraid that we were too late. __  
_  
As the wind grabbed hold of the Cornerian Army drop ship, it swayed uncontrollably on its course, but Jakob did not notice it. Instead, he looked down at the scenery below him. "Holy mother of the Krazoa!" he whispered in terror, "You've _got_ to be kidding me! Who did this?"

Large clouds of black smoke billowed from the remains of the once mighty temples and dinosaur dwellings, darkening the otherwise beautiful Saurian sunset. From these ruins, endless groups of EarthWalkers and CloudRunners were forced along the roads and paths, the former being shackled tightly around their legs and the latter having their wings tied on their backs. They were covered from elevated positions, Saurian ruins above the roadside, which had once been beautiful, but now they were fortresses bristling with rapid-fire plasma cannons set up by the enemy. The groups were led to monstrously ugly steel buildings where they were forced through a gate in the front. From the looks of it, these were the extermination camps that their intel had mentioned. "Bastards!" Jakob thought to himself. "Bastards, _bastards_, BASTAR…"

He was abruptly brought back to reality from this destructive way of thinking, when a familiar voice sounded from behind him. "I sense a lot of hate in you, Ghost. What's wrong?" Krystal asked him with an accent that was as British as his own, her voice trembling with concern. Ghost turned his head to look at the blue-furred anthropomorphic vixen, whom he had gotten to know so well during the past six months. She looked just like she used to look before any mission the two of them were about to be thrown into, as she sat there on the seat in the drop ship in her blue Team Star Fox uniform with her blaster resting in her lap, eyeing him conspicuously. And as he eyed her closely in return, he recognized the expression of concern that always showed in her emerald eyes whenever one of her friends was troubled by something. He nodded towards the window. "Look out there, Krystal, and you'll see what's wrong.". The cerulean vixen looked, and for a second her eyes filled with despair, then resolve. "We _won't_ let them get away with this!".  
"Krystal, I couldn't agree with you more!" he exclaimed. She smiled warmly in return.

"They'll get some of John's _blade_… huh… they'll get some of John's…"  
"_STOP, GODDAMMIT, WILL YOU!_ You've been singing that line over and over again ever since we took off from the Great Fox, and it drives me insane!" Mikki shouted into John's face. "OK, OK, I'll stop if you want it, man!" John said angrily and plumped down in a seat. The ship's intercom suddenly crackled to life and Jakob's voice could be heard throughout the ship.

"All units, this is Ghost. Alright, we're approaching the drop zone. Once we land, we'll split up. Krystal and I will go around from the east to flank some of their fortresses along the road. Shield and Saber, you move in from the north and demolish their extermination camps. If we can mess it up properly, I'm sure that we'll hurt their morale enough to make them retreat. It's a good thing that they haven't occupied anymore than this. Fox, Falco and Slippy will hold off their airborne reinforcements, so they can't be warned or supported from that edge. We have the Cornerian Army standing by, so when we've done our thing, they'll help us clean up the rest. Okay, good luck, everyone! We're landing and moving out!"  
As he said the final remark, the ship came into contact with the ground with a metallic _clang!_ Mikki grabbed his rocket launcher and Gatling gun, John grabbed his newly sharpened katana and his old-school blaster and, before they even knew it themselves, they were spurting across the plains of Sauria, heading for the nearest extermination camp.

Fifteen minutes later, Krystal and Jakob snuck around the corner of the last of the ruin fortresses. They had sabotaged all the others. There was only a steel filing cabinet- presumably set up by the enmy for storage of information - and one guard in there, and he was tired. Jakob snuck up behind him and broke his neck with one firm twist of his arm, which he had placed around the man's neck. After the _crunch_ that sounded, the guard said nothing as he fell down. Jakob began to check the guard's pockets while Krystal sabotaged the plasma machine gun. "Look at this." Jakob said to her when she was done with the weapon. She came over and studied the card he held. It was a simple plastic card, but a slogan was printed on it: "For we shall rise against everything the Universe holds that is abnormal, and we shall leave a veil of crimson blood in our wake!" "Well, well, well, what do you know? Cornerian soldiers with an inferiority complex. Now _that's_ a strange opponent, don't you think, Krystal?" Jakob mumbled thoughtfully.

"Maybe they couldn't cope with the fact that they should serve all the different galactic races for the best." Krystal suggested. "Maybe. But whatever their reason is, this is to take it too far. We've got to move on and…". Before he could say anymore, he was pulled to the floor by Krystal, just in time to avoid the sizzling blue energy bolt that flew directly past their heads through the gun slit.

The guards of the extermination camp were all gathered in the courtyard to execute the new pack of dinosaurs that was brought in. They enjoyed this part of the execution, especially because they lined the dinosaurs up with the ugliest to be shot first. When this was done, the highest ranking officer and a few of his men stepped back, readied their arms… and felt a searing pain run through their bodies as the plasma charges from Mikki's Gatling gun blasted them to smithereens from the top of the east wall. Its muffled, booming sound could be heard for some seconds. When he suddenly ceased fire, the remaining five men aimed at him to kill him instantly. But he just stood there, grinning. The men exchanged some worried looks. What was going on?

"_EAT THIS, ASSHOLES!_" a voice screamed from the top of the west wall, and as a raging tempest, John was in their midst. He spun around elegantly, made a vicious slice with his katana and cut the throats of three men in a row. There were still two behind him, but he had calculated his spin in such a way that he would come to a halt in front of them. When he stopped, he extended his arms. This resulted in one of the men facing his blaster, and the other one getting his head impaled by John's katana, which was now also white from brain fluid. John whispered a single word: "Gay!" before he pulled the trigger and fried the man's head with a laser blast.

Mikki jumped down from the wall and began to unshackle the EarthWalkers using a key he found on one of the guards. John removed the CloudRunners' ties with his katana, while humming "Woo hoo hoo!" to himself. The EarthWalkers were very interested in hearing how the two of them had learned that strategy, but Mikki just replied "Well, this is the third Saurian extermination camp we storm today, so we should've learned it by now, right?". This answer only evoked further admiration from the EarthWalkers. While Mikki talked to them, John contacted Jakob. "Ghost, this is Saber. We have cleared out the last camp, and it was really fun, dude!"

"I wish I could say the same thing!" Jakob shouted over the sound of laser fire slamming against the steel cabinet, which he and Krystal had toppled over and were now using as cover. "We're pinned down here by a squad on one side and a sniper on the other, presumably the leader of this faction. We'll try to break free and meet you by the river. Ghost out!"  
He looked around. Krystal was lying by his side, waiting for the right moment. But he knew that they had been pinned long enough, and if they were to act, it had to be now. "Keep your head down, Krystal!" he shouted to her. "I'll nail these idiots!".

He stuck his blasters in his belt and pulled out his SMGs. He sat and braced himself, counted to five and flung himself over the cabinet in a spinning whirl of black leather and shining chrome. While he was in midair, he squeezed the triggers of his SMGs, spraying laser fire all over the squad at the other side. They fell to the ground, screaming, except for one, who was only wounded. He clutched his hand and groaned in agony. Jakob landed, made a roll, got up on his feet, grabbed the wounded guard around the neck in a tight grasp, stuck one SMG in his belt and aimed the other at the man's temple. He turned around to face the sniper, now with a human shield. He nodded to Krystal – that meant "stay down" – and she nodded back.

He loosened his grip around the guard's neck but continued to aim the SMG at him, and said to him: "Just stay where you are, or I'll blow your head off!". The guard stood still. With his free hand, Jakob adjusted his comm. unit to broadcast on all frequencies; he presumed that the sniper also had a comm. unit. Then he reached for his Hi-Def Display Device and zoomed in on the faint figure that he could see on a rock across the road.

A man came into view. He was tall, and his face was distinguished. His brown hair, which already had grey stripes in it, was swept back from his forehead. He wore a completely black Cornerian Special Forces-uniform with a sniper's emblem at the right arm. The barrel of the long, sleek sniper rifle he held pointed directly at the small group in the ruin.

"This is Commander Jakob from Team G-Wing of the Cornerian Army. Your installations have been sabotaged, and there's no way for you to escape! Who are you, and what do you want from us and Sauria?" Jakob asked through the comm. unit. A cold voice answered him menacingly: "I am Peter Von Ernst, former captain of the Cornerian Special Forces. And I want nothing from you or from Sauria, except that you die."  
"_What!_ Are you insane? We hold one of your men hostage and we can execute him anytime we see fit. So why don't you just put the rifle down and give yourself up?"

"Give up?" Von Ernst answered with the slightest hint of a laugh "I was trained not to give up. But that was before my men and I realised how many ugly and weak races all over the universe that would need our help with their problems. I've always hated weakness and my men felt the same way. And then we decided to ease these creatures' misery, so that only the strongest would be left for us to help. "Survival of the fittest", you might say. And do you really think I care about that hostage? In fact, let me do your work for you!"

The next things happened very quickly. An energy bolt flew from Von Ernst's rifle and hit the guard in the chest. He gave a gurgling cry and fell to the ground. Jakob stood there, completely baffled, before he was pushed away from the gun slit by Krystal, who threw herself at him. Just then, Von Ernst's second shot sounded. Unfortunately, Jakob fell to the floor with his head first, and was knocked partially unconscious.

After a minute of blackout, Jakob slowly opened his eyes. Krystal was lying next to him and Von Ernst's shots could not be heard anymore. He assumed that it was safe, and said "Wow, that was some quick reflexes, Krystal. Thank you!". She did not answer him. He wondered if she was unconscious as he had been, then he sniffed. The sickening stench of burnt fur filled the air around him. With a breath that trembled with fear, he looked closer. And then he saw it. Krystal had a burnt spot on her back from Von Ernst's second shot. He shook her once. She did not respond  
"No. _No_, this can't be! Krystal, wake up, come on…!"


	4. Chapter 3: Struck by Lightning

**Chapter 3: Struck by Lightning ****  
**  
From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log: _Um, we're like going to storm this outpost or somethin'. Ghost's REALLY pissed – he was a mess when we found him on Sauria - , Krystal's in the infirmary – she has seen better days - and Saber's just… chilling – he always does that - . Yeah, I think that's it for now. Oh wait, errrm…yeah, I'll get the chance to blow some stuff up. Y'know, power generators, weapon dumps, stuff like that. And a lot of bad guys, too! __  
_  
"We're coming up on the outpost, guys!" the pilot said over the drop ship's intercom. Mikki polished the rocket in his launcher and wrote "Have a nice day!" on it and "OWNAGE!" on another. Jakob inspected his blasters and SMGs. John turned to face the other two and began to explain their plan:

"Alright, G-Wing, the time for ass-kicking has come! Shield and I will move in from the front to start owning some butt and blowing stuff up as well. Ghost, you'll be sent in through the back door. Without a partner, you're more vulnerable, so wait until Shield and I have caused a large enough commotion and the troops are sent out to investigate. We'll keep 'em away from you, so that you can smack Von Ernst's ass for what he did to Krystal. Okay?"

"Yeah!" the other two shouted. When Mikki and John had found Jakob in the ruin on Sauria, he sat on his knees, facing the sunset with closed eyes and Krystal's head resting lightly on his arm. As he heard the others behind him, he had – while the others followed him - lifted her limp body from the ground and carried her all the way back to the drop ship without saying a word. They departed for the Great Fox immediately to get Krystal to the infirmary. When she was safely onboard, Pepper addressed the team, saying that the army's scanners had found a trail from a personal teleporting device, leading from Sauria to an outpost in a remote quadrant of the system. The G-Wing members agreed simultaneously: "Let's storm it!". And here they were.

"Commander, I'll dock at that small freight hatch there. Go through it, and you're in. Good luck!" the pilot said. Jakob put on his gloves and trenchcoat, stood up and saluted the others before he walked through the vacuum-proof extension of the drop ship and the open freight hatch. After a minute, he transmitted a message to the ship: "I'm in. You can move on. Good luck, guys!". The ship continued towards the main hangar.

Jakob sat in a shadowy corridor and looked directly at the main control room. He could see Von Ernst in there along with a large team of guards. He would not stand a chance if he attacked now. He would just have to wait for Mikki and John to do their thing. However, Ghost doubted how long he could keep his rage and thirst for vengeance in check. He could feel the sorrow and shock, which had manifested itself in him in the aftermath of the sniping of Krystal, slowly evolving into something uncontrollable and destructive within him. And he would unleash that power upon the one who had robbed him of his other part: Von Ernst.

As Jakob sat crouched in the shadows, pretty much resembling a shadow himself because of his black trenchcoat, flashbacks started to dawn upon him: How he and Krystal had officially been recognized by the Cornerian Army as a military duo at the Cornerian Fleet Academy almost six months ago, after the Aparoid Invasion when he and his friends first came here; Fox's joking comment: "What the hell! Take her if you must!" said with a wry grin; Krystal's reassuring smile to him as they were approaching their first mission site in a drop ship and he sat there, overwhelmed by nervousness; her calmly stated promise before they went in: "Don't worry, I'll look after you. Trust me!"; and finally the months and months of training, missions and free time, during which they had gotten to know each other's personality to the point where they could almost read what the other one was thinking. A very valuable asset to have, when one is assigned to missions with a partner.

Jakob reached down to the sheath on his right ankle, where his combat knife was located, and drew the weapon slowly and contemplatively. He saw his face mirrored in the shiny blade, and for a moment he also thought he could see a ghostly image of Fox looking at him over his shoulder. Ghost knew how great a love Fox held for Krystal, and the least he could do was to avenge the loss, he thought. "Don't worry, Fox!" he whispered determinedly. "I'll make that sucker pay… with every last drop of his blood!". Shortly thereafter, before he sheathed the knife again, Jakob also thought that he saw another ghostly image, this time of Krystal, looking at him pleadingly with her emerald eyes, her beautiful cerulean fur straggly and untidy, but he concluded that it was just the poor light in the corridor, along with his enraged mind, which played tricks on him.

The ten guards at the main hangar bay watched in wonder, as a Cornerian Army drop ship hovered into landing position, but did not land. Instead, it stayed hovering. A guy in a heavy military fatigue leaned out of the ship's left door, smiled widely and pointed a massive rocket launcher at them. Before they realised what was happening, a rocket was fired. One of the guards thought that he could read "Have a nice day!" on the side of it, before it exploded among them, and body parts and blood splashed all over the floor of the hangar bay.

"_Yeah!_ Own their asses, Shield! Own them hard!" John's voice screamed from inside the drop ship. Both John and Mikki jumped out of the ship and ran along the wall of the hangar. Suddenly, Mikki flung his rocket launcher onto his back, grabbed hold of his Gatling gun and fired at the catwalk above them.  
"Why the _fuck_ did you do that?" John shouted in bewilderment. As an answer to his question, three soldiers came crashing down on the floor in front of him, just as the outpost's alarm began to wail.  
"_That's_ why!" Mikki shouted back at him. "Okay, let's take out the power generator!"  
"Yeah, I'm with you!"

They now stood in a large storage room with lots of boxes and barrels stacked on top of each other. The power generator was on top of a plateau at the other end of the room, directly below a wide window, through which the control room could be seen. Mikki took out his rocket launcher, started to align his aim and was suddenly forced to jump behind some boxes for cover along with John, as a group of guards behind another stack of boxes at the other end of the storage room started to open fire on them with automatic laser rifles.  
"Oh, what a _brilliant_ idea to destroy the power generator, Shield! What're you going to do now, rocket-boy?" John shouted sarcastically and fired a couple of shots from his blaster, while the splinters of the boxes were flying around their ears as they got shot to pieces by the continuous laser fire.  
"Well, I need my rocket to take out the generator and my Gatling gun doesn't have that kind of range! _Damn!_ _Mental dilemma… can't… focus!_"

"Okay, I'll try to think of someth… _Oh my God!_ Free interstellar Coke!". The reason for John's last remark was a vending machine at the other end of the room, which – curiously enough – had Coke as an option. Unfortunately, the group of guards stood between him and the vending machine. He stared at them for a moment, and then his eyes filled with hate. He took a deep breath and unsheathed his katana.

"_DIE, HOMOS!_" he shouted wildly, jumped out from behind his cover and ran towards the enemy squad, blasting away at them with his slow, but powerful blaster. He hit two of them directly in the head and they fell down behind the crates. The three remaining guards unleashed a barrage of laser fire from their automatic rifles. Mikki thought for a long time about the next things he saw, and he concluded that it was pure luck and not skill. John made a twisting dodge to the left, converted it into a rolling dodge, got up without even being graced by one of the laser beams or losing his cap, and threw his katana through the air in a horizontal spin. The guards did not have time to see, what was coming, before each of them got their head cleaved in half. The now red-bladed katana continued towards the vending machine and smacked into the Coke button with the tip first. John strolled to the machine and grabbed his Coke. As he twisted the top off of the bottle, Mikki's rocket with "OWNAGE!" written on it flew through the air and blew the power generator out of existence. Mikki saluted to John with a wide smile.  
"Now, _that_, Shield" John said and drank some of his Coke, "was absolute _OWNAGE!_"

"Did you see that, sir?" one of Von Ernst's men asked him. Von Ernst nodded and asked the guard "Didn't they arrive in a Cornerian ship?"  
"Yes, sir, but I've never seen Cornerian forces that were trained like this!". "Neither have I" Von Ernst answered, "but they are still weak and weird, and we are stronger, remember? All of you!", he shouted to the men in the control room, "Go down there and kill them. _NOW!_". The men rushed out of the room.  
Von Ernst turned to face the window, and watched as his men were decimated by Mikki's Gatling gun and John's katana and blaster. "Are we not superior?" he thought to himself. "Well, I will ma…"

He did not have the time to complete the thought, before a hand grabbed him by the hair and smashed his head five times into the sharp metal-coated corner of one of the data-consoles in the room. As he lifted his bleeding head up to see his enemy, he stared into the stone-cold eye of the soldier from Sauria, the one whose partner he had killed. Jakob let go of Von Ernst's hair and stepped back.  
"Ah, I presume you are here because of your pathetic partner. You know, she's probably dead by now!" Von Ernst said and thrust his arm forward in a chop that was intended to break Jakob's neck. But Jakob blocked his chop and launched a counter-attack in the form of a swift punch straight to the face that sent Von Ernst sprawling to the ground. He got up and drew a combat knife from the sheath in his belt. Jakob reached for his own knife just above the boot on his right leg, and the two of them began to circle around each otherat a steady pace.

"You don't see the full perspective here, do you?", Jakob said, waving his knife back and forth in front of him to make it unclear for his enemy just from where he would strike. "You've killed the last Cerinian and exterminated an entire race!". Without waiting for the inevitable taunt that would surely come after this, Jakob rushed forward while swinging his knife in several calculated slashing motions, screaming wildly, purely out of pent-up rage. He had hoped that at least one of them would penetrate Von Ernst's parades. But the leader of the Crimson Veil blocked them all with uncanny certainty and dexterity, before launching his own swiping attacks against the G-Wing commander's face.

By a mere stroke of luck, Jakob avoided any major damage by twisting away from the swipes in the nick of time, but the blood running from a small cut on his cheek surprised him as they both regained their footing. "Ha! The Cerinians were weak! They couldn't survive that their planet changed. I have just relieved you of that pitiful burden!", Von Ernst said and lunged forward with his knife. That was what Jakob had been waiting for. He grabbed hold of Von Ernst's hand and twisted it hard, so that he dropped the knife as well as broke his wrist. Von Ernst screamed. But his screaming only intensified when Jakob bent his arm on his back and forced him near the window. Von Ernst looked down. Beneath them were the remains of the generator, still sparkling with electricity.

"You know, one Cerinian out there trusted me. And even in death, I know she still does. This is for Krystal, scumbag!" Jakob said and threw Von Ernst through the window. As his body hit the generator, it was impaled by the pointy pieces of the generator and electrocuted at the same time. His last sound was a long, gurgling and whining cry, before he finally fell silent.  
Jakob looked down at Mikki and John who saluted to him. He saluted back and said "Guys, we truly owned today! And now I have finally found out what it looks like when a shit is struck by lightning. Unfortunately, it was too violent for him to handle!". He pointed to Von Ernst. "All right, let's head home!".

As the three of them stepped onto the bridge of the Great Fox, Jakob thought that he was hallucinating. From what he could see, Krystal was sitting in her usual seat. When she waved and went towards him, he thought that he was going insane. But when she hugged him lightly and said softly into his ear: "Thank you for everything you've done for me today! Now _I _need to repay _you_ someday!", he sent a silent "Thank you!" himself to the Krazoa, wherever they were. He looked at Fox, who was smiling and not furious, as Jakob had thought he would be, seeing as how he was hugging Fox's loved one. Fox was probably also pretty relieved that Krystal did not die after all.

"It was a miracle that we could get her back up on her feet. For a moment there when I stood in the infirmary, I was sure that I had lost her for good. But ROB's a pretty good doctor after all." Fox said. "If she had been hit a little closer to the spine, we couldn't have saved her. But she's back again, and will soon be ready to be sent out on missions. And you guys cleaned out that outpost! Excellent work! And what's all this about a Coke in the midst of battle, John? John?". From the nearby living room, Falco's swears could be heard. "_GODDAMN! YOU'RE SICK AT THIS GAME, DUDE, YOU KNOW THAT?_"  
"You got some of John's _blade_… huh… you got some of John's _blade_… "


	5. Chapter 4: Fara in the Fray

**Chapter 4: Fara in the Fray ****  
**  
From lieutenant John (Saber)'s log: _Day 4: Chilled after our offensive against the ex-Corneran Special Forces. Day 5: Heard that we're going to check out a desolate outpost. Woo hoo hoo! Well, actually… BORING! __  
_  
From commander Jakob (Ghost)'s log: _11:49, Lylatian Standard Time. A faint radio signal has just been transmitted to us. Team Star Fox and I have located its point of origin and found out that a deserted outpost is the source of the signal. We will check it out shortly. Wonder where Shield and Saber are. __  
_  
From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log: _I've just played some WoW. Got a new sword and stuff. Haven't blown anything up for some time, though… _

"And hey, John, try to imagine a Tauren up here. Man, he would charge when he saw you!", Mikki said to John, before running towards him with a frenzied look in his eyes and an insane howl coming from his mouth. John tried to parry Mikki's charge with his newly opened Ice Tea, but it only resulted in the Ice Tea splashing all over his uniform and the recently cleaned floor of the Great Fox. John looked around with a look of great bafflement, and then a spark of resolve could be seen in his eyes. "All right, now you did it. _DIE, YOU MOTHER_!", he screamed while he chased Mikki down the hallway.

The reason for this - not very unusual - behaviour was a very weird discussion about a trend that had spread quickly through the entire galaxy since it was made on Earth, the computer game WoW. The two of them had been very hooked on it for a long time and it had often come to some rather strange discussions.

Mikki laughed at John's attempt to catch up with him, turned a corner and fled onto the bridge, running like anidiot just to annoy John. The door slammed shut behind him. John stopped right outside the door, which he knew was equipped with motion sensors, as every door aboard the ship was. He waited patiently and then he could suddenly hear a laugh on the other side. He braced himself and rushed through the door while shouting: "OWNAGE TIME, D…". He would have said "Dude", had it not been for the stretched-out hand that landed heavily on his forehead just above his eyes. Everything blacked out in front of him and he sensed that he flipped backwards and smashed his back against the floor. Then his vision returned, but before he could do much more, a boot was sat on his neck and a voice said: "Don't move or I'll break your neck!". Commander Jakob's voice suddenly cut through from above. "That's excellent, Shield! Good reflexes. Just let him go.". The boot was removed from his neck. John coughed a couple of times, stood up and saw the other members of Team Star Fox and G-Wing smiling at him. He realized that it had all just been a practical joke to test him, and he began to chuckle quietly himself.

"Calm down, everyone, and listen up!", Jakob said. He tapped a small button on the side of the holographic projector on the bridge and displayed a map of the nearest quadrants of the galaxy. A red spot flashed in one of the outmost quadrants. "A few hours ago we received a very faint signal from this outpost. It disappeared almost as quickly as it came. We have decided to check it out, but remember: This is a covert op. If anything goes wrong out there, it will be denied that we even exist. Officially this never happened; the Cornerian Army knows nothing about it, blah blah blah… You know the drill. According to the intel we have, this outpost is a combined warehouse and science station, so it would be safe to assume that something has gone wrong in the scientific department. But we'll see. When we get there, report to the others immediately if you find something suspicious. Understood?"  
"Yes, sir!", they shouted. They got up and went off.

Half an hour later, seven Arwings jumped out of hyperspace and changed course for the main hangar of the little grey outpost hanging in space. They landed softly. Seven figures in battledresses climbed out, and started to unload their weapons and equipment. Suddenly, a loud "_clank_" could be heard and Mikki shouted "_Fuck!_" one second after. He looked at the others and picked the energy cell for his Gatling gun up from the floor. "It wasn't fastened properly! What the hell, it could happen to anyone!" he said as the others started to laugh. Jakob drew his guns and inspected them while he began to explain the plan.  
"Alright, John, check the storage room. Mikki, you sweep the science labs. Krystal and I will check the main control room. Fox and Falco, you look in the dormitories. And Slippy, you stay in your Arwing."  
"But… I was expecting to come with you. I can fight!" Slippy said and raised his blaster over his head. The others laughed again. "I'm just kidding, Slippy! You stay with Fox and Falco." Jakob said. "Okay, let's move out!"

Three heads peered into the dormitories a little while later. Fox and Falco moved in and began to secure the room swiftly, while Slippy stayed behind them. When they had looked in every corner and under the beds, they suddenly smelt something that stunk like a rotting corpse. And it came from a locker that they had missed. They flung the door open simultaneously, and then Fox turned way in disgust while Falco radioed the others: "All units, this is Falco. We've searched the dormitories and found nothing… except for a pair of really disgusting, smelly and almost rotten sneakers in a locker! And… _Oh my God!_ Slippy is trying them on!".

Jakob and Krystal stood side by side in shock after their first few steps inside the control room. Every surface was covered by a black-green layer of something that Krystal estimated to be some sort of plant, but as she said, "There's something screwy about it". Five bodies were lying on the floor, also covered by the plant-like layer. It was as if the layer was integrated with their skin in some way, but you could still see their faces: Pale, thin and scared.

Jakob reported through his comm. unit. "This is Ghost, everyone. Krystal and I are at the control room. And something's _definitely_ not right here. We've found some kind of substance that we can't classify properly, but… Hold on!", he said as Krystal grabbed his arm. "Look!", she whispered. He turned his head to where she was looking and saw something that looked like a tentacle. It formed itself from the surrounding layer of substance, crawled to an empty power socket, as if it could almost sense it, and plugged itself in. A crackling bolt of electricity spread across the substance and it began to vibrate slowly, but the more time that passed, the faster the vibrations became. Jakob now shouted into his comm. unit. "All units, I've only got one thing to say: Houston, we have a _big frigging problem here!_ We've got a techno-organic life-form onboard and it's turning itself on… literally!". Jakob realized that it was time to stop joking when the bodies rose from the floor and walked towards him and Krystal with guttural, gurgling sounds.

Almost acting on instinct, the two long-time partners entered their CQC fighting-stances while standing back to back. Krystal's tail flicked back and forth with excitement before the fight, and Jakob could hear how it brushed against his trenchcoat. And he had spent hours yesterday cleaning it and making it straight again after his last fight. "Could you control your tail for just a minute? You're messing my coat up!" he said jokingly. "Sorry. I can't help it!" she grinned.

The revived corpses were dangerously close now. "Here they come! This is it, Krystal. Are you ready?" he asked calmly with his gaze fixated on the one nearest to him. "As ready as ever!" she shouted to him, before leaping into action with a spin kick straight to the neck of one of the corpses. A creepy, squishing sound could be heard as several veins and tendons within the neck were severed, but the creature continued its relentless march towards her, moaning wildly. Elegantly dodging its attempt to grab her, Krystal thrust her stretched-out hand into the soft area between the neck and the chin, and pulled upwards. The corpse's spine broke with a _crack_, and it fell to the ground.

As the creature near him made an attempt to grab him, Jakob made a rolling dodge in between it and another one beside him. While he was getting up from the roll, he grabbed his blasters from the belt, and as he stood up he stuck the blasters under the chins of the corpses to either side of him and pulled the triggers. They fell down dead. As the fourth creature approached him from behind, he heard it, and - in one flowing motion - he smacked an elbow straight into its face, whirled around with his blasters at the ready and shot it with two shots right between the eyes as it landed on the ground.

He looked around for Krystal, but she was nowhere in sight. That, on the other hand, was the last corpse. As he turned around, he saw it charge towards him with its mouth wide open. He aimed his two blasters and was about to shoot it, when a blue-furred hand and a bit of the arm appeared around the creature's neck and broke it. As the corpse fell to its knees and down on the ground, Krystal appeared behind it. She smiled and winked at him. Jakob twirled his blasters around his fingers a few times before putting them back into their holsters. "Hmm… it looks like I owe you one!" he said. "Nah. Don't mention it. Besides, I had to pay you back somehow for Von Ernst!" Krystal replied, grinning cheerfully.

In the dimmed light from the lamps in the science labs, a big figure could be seen moving around with his Gatling gun at the ready. He was baffled and bewildered by the sight that met him. The plant-like layer was everywhere, and bodies were strewn across the floor, too, also covered by the life-form. He could feel a slight tremble in the layer as he walked across it to one of the bodies. When he bent down to examine it, a hand was suddenly clenched around his face in a tight grasp. He felt a sharp pain run through the nerves in his face, as the life-form, which covered the hand, absorbed his power by inducing small electrical surges into his nervous system. Through his right eye that was not covered by the hand, he could see the mouth of the body open in a wide grin.

With a sudden rush of determination flowing through him, Mikki reached out, grabbed around the wrist of the hand that held him and twisted it firmly. It broke with a muffled "_crack_". The body's wide grin changed into a scream of pain, and from its mouth came a gurgle instead of a real scream. "That… thing must've drained too much of the brain. Somehow, he doesn't know how to scream. But he won't need it anymore!" Mikki thought to himself as he threw the broken hand away, stood up, placed his boot on the body's neck and crushed the upper spine with a hard step.

As he was about to continue further into the labs, he heard a sound of bodies dragging themselves across the floor. He turned around sharply, aimed his Gatling gun and sprayedblue plasma beams all over the place. The bodies fell down, smoke rising from the big holes in their skin. He went into the adjacent room and stopped as soon as he had taken the first step.

From a large pod that hung from the ceiling, more of the techno-organic life-form was being spewed out from a hole in the bottom. On both sides of the hole was a brown spear-like fang or tusk. Both of them moved slightly. "So that's the main body!" Mikki thought and followed the extension of it along the ceiling. It ended in what looked like a small bowl of glass with a filthy, dry, brown liquid in it. The bowl stood under an emitter. From what Mikki could tell, it was a Gamma-ray emitter. He loosened his walkie-talkie from its strap and talked:

"Okay, people, this is Shield. I think that I've found out how this nasty crap came here in the first place. I'm in the labs. I have just found the main body of the thing and the remains of a heavy radioactive experiment on a bacterial culture. And it's Gamma-rays. Not nice, dudes! Perhaps the bacteria have mutated because of the radiation, and then they went for the power source to gather more strength for themselves and killed the station workers in the process… or something like that! Yeah, whatever!" he shouted angrily as Jakob interrupted his transmission on the frequency. "Shield, get out of that lab _as fast as you can!_ I've got a bad feeling about that main body! All units, the systems are going haywire because the life-form plugged itself in. And it's spreading itself through the station at an alarming rate. Let's rendezvous at the storage room, and fast! We've got to let Saber know!"

While all this was happening, John snuck around among the giant crates in the storage room. There was not any layer of the life-form out here. As he walked between two crates, he could hear something scratching on the other side of one of them. He stopped, unsheathed his katana and cut one of the sides off with four quick slices. As the side fell to the floor, he stared in amazement on the figure that climbed out of the crate and stood in front of him.

She looked a bit like Fox. She had the same orange-red fur and the same turquoise irises, but there was also a glint of purple in them. She was taller and her face was slimmer than her male counterpart, and she was dressed in a purple and black battledress. She smiled at John's gaping expression and extended her hand. "Hi, John! I'm Fara. And you're also from G-Wing. I've heard much about you!".

John took her hand and shook it. He was about to say something when Mikki interrupted him as he came running through one of the doors to the storage room along with the others. "Much? How can you possibly have heard much about that little dude, huh, Fara? He's the most stoned person in the entire Universe. He chills all the time! _Damn! Too illogic… doesn't… fit!_" he screamed as he whirled past them. As Jakob came running, he stopped in front of them. "Don't look so dazzled, Saber. Fara is a recruit at the CFA and that's why she has heard so much about you. Come on! This station's going to blow in a while, and… Yeah, I'm coming! _Krystal, wait for me!_" he shouted, as Krystal almost dragged him through the room by the arm. "I don't want to see you blown up!", she shouted back to him. "I understand, but I don't want to see _them_ blown up!". He pointed to John and Fara. They came running at the end of the flock.

"What are you doing here?" John asked Fara as they ran through the corridor. "I was on an excursion to this station as a part of my training.", she answered. "Everything went fine to begin with. I should just survey it all for a week and report back to Corneria. But when I started to hear screams around here a couple of hours ago, I hurried and transmitted an emergency signal. Afterwards, I hid in the crate until you came and found me a while ago. Thank you!", she said and squeezed John's free hand without the katana while they ran. "Man, you really are Fara in the fray!" he said ironirally.

Suddenly, Jakob held up a hand. "Stop, all of you!", he shouted. They stopped on the spot and fell silent. On both sides of the hallway were a couple of doors. They opened, and out came ten to fifteen infested workers. And from the ceiling came something even more hideous – the main body of the life form.

"Oh man, I'm _so_ not in the mood for this!", John said. "I understand you. Team Star Fox, Fara and I will take the workers. Saber and Shield, get the body! How it got here, I have no idea.", Jakob said before walking towards the workers along with the others. One of the workers extended his arms to get a hold of Fara. But he was far too slow and she elegantly slipped under his grip, toppled him over with a foot sweep, and slammed his head once into the floor. Something broke, and he did not stand up again.

Mikki and John faced the body, which trembled and screeched in a very high-pitched tone. All of a sudden, it thrust one of its fangs towards Mikki. He held up his Gatling gun to parry it, which resulted in the weapon being splintered and destroyed. "Damn! Now I have to order a new one from Corneria!" he mumbled sullenly. But this mishap was abruptly avenged by Saber.

"_DIE, BITCH!_", John shouted, as he threw his katana. It flew horizontally through the air and made a slice in the body. Its intestines began to spurt out of it, and its screech was ear-splitting. John waved to Mikki, who understood the hint, grabbed hold of his rocket launcher and fired a rocket labelled "Have a nice day!" into the sliced hole. The body exploded with a tremendous noise, splashing blood and bits of intestines all over the place.

"Nice work, guys!", Jakob said, as he broke the neck of the last infested worker with a vicious roundhouse-kick and a billowing trenchcoat. "Now let's get out of here!". And he ran to the Arwings, followed by the others, with his trenchcoat whirling around him. When they took off, Fara looked out of the window in John's cockpit and saw the station explode in a blinding shimmer of light.

As they arrived at the Great Fox, it turned out that the Cornerian Army had sent a recruit to investigate what had happened. His face appeared on the holographic projector. He was smiling widely and his blonde hair was straightened at the forehead. Jakob recognized him as the show-off that he had trained at the CFA. "Hey, dudes!", the recruit said. "Am I too late? I thought that there was an outpost here but there are only some pieces of metal. Well, I'll just report that, then! I don't know what happened, but what the fuck. It was probably cool. Yeah, I'll report that. See you!". His face vanished again.

"Show-off!", Jakob said to Mikki, who agreed with a "Yeah!". As the two of them walked past John's room, Jakob knocked at the door and said: "Hey, Saber, be sure to get some rest. We never know when we might be called for!".  
But he did not get an answer. Instead, he heard Fara's voice. "No, John, not now!"  
"C'mon, Fara! You know that… you want some of John's _blade_… huh… you want some of John's _blade_… "


	6. Chapter 5: Back to Boot Camp

**Chapter 5: Back to Boot Camp ****  
**  
From lieutenant John (Saber)'s log: _Day 6: Wiped Falco's ass in Starfox Assault yet again! He said he would wipe mine in the Arwing simulator tomorrow, but I still think that he'll get whipped himself! Day 7: A call was made for all of us to report to the bridge. Man, if Falco has talked about my gaming skills to Fox... __  
_  
From commander Jakob (Ghost)'s log: _10:17, Lylatian Standard Time. As much as I thought that I would be going along on that training mission of John's (Krystal told me about it yesterday over a cup of Cornerian coffee after we had finished our training), it seems that I will not be going anyway. I heard Peppy talking over a comlink while I headed for the showers half an hour ago, and Cornerian High Command is placing Krystal and me on some kind of "black box"-operation. I wonder what... Hm, a call has just been transmitted for the entire crew to report to the bridge. Maybe that's our assignment calling! __  
_  
From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log: _I HATE UBRS! SOFRIGGING MUCH! WHEN will that sword drop? Oh WHEN! I want a mission SO badly right now. I need to take my frustrations out of my body by blowing something up. WTF? A ship-wide call? ALL RIGHT! Blow-up time, bitches! __  
_  
"What the crap is _this?_" Yelled John, obviously outraged by general Pepper's words. The whole crew was gathered at the bridge and general Pepper, or more correctly, general Pepper's hologram had a hopeless look in its face. He looked around the room and spoke again "This is for your own good Saber; we have noticed that you are too..." He held it at that, thinking about what to say when Fox finished his sentence "Impulsive". John just looked at them with disbelief painted across his face, Mikki thought he noted some hate too.

"You must do this Lt. Saber, you need to learn to be more disciplined, and we are thus sending you to this training camp under the command of General James". John was fumbling with what to say, and it ended up in: "Screw discipline!". "You DO want to keep your rank, lieutenant?" It was said as a question, with extra weight put on the _do_ and _lieutenant_. "What the... CRAP!.. Ok I'll go already, no need to start joking with ranks here" John almost spat out. "Permission to go with him general" Sgt. Mikki uttered with respect. "Permission granted Sergeant Mikki, good to see that there are still eager soldiers out there".

All this time Jakob was sitting in his chair with a big grin on his face. "Just relax Saber! It isn't that bad! Besides, you do need some training in how to behave around certain people with higher ranks than you." Jakob was sounding superior, and was clearly enjoying the situation at hand. Pepper spoke again "As stated before, you will be under the command of general James, with you will be a total of three classes, which I believe G-Wing has had some sessions with. All in all you will be sent to the planet Daytin, with the purpose to set up a base and training facility. Once there, you can decide yourself on how to split up the recruits, and since there will be 120 of them I will send some sergeants to help you keep them in order. Everything understood?"

A loud "Sir, yes sir!" was heard from Mikki and a grumbling "Hmrhp" from John. Jakob started again, "Great, you are free to go, and be sure to give me a report of what happens down there, team. I have received word that there may be some outlaw pirate ships located in this asteroid belt, Meteo. I will go there and investigate with Krystal. Falco, you come with me too. I would have wanted you two with me, but you have some important preparations to do, so I am afraid it is not possible". He ended the sentence with a wry smile. "Sometimes you really piss me off Hamsterboy" John taunted him. "That is no way to speak to someone with higher rank than you!" Jakob returned.

Fox suddenly interrupted Jakob "_ENOUGH!_ l am beginning to tire of your constant commanding, Ghost! l am the leader of this team and therefore I give the orders! You are not investigating any outlaw pirate ships at all!". Fox took a deep breath, and Jakob was clearly perplexed and didn't know what to say. "General Pepper, I request that you send Commander Ghost down there with the others" General Pepper took a look at Jakob "Yes, I see what you mean Fox. Request granted, you will be picked up by a drop ship tomorrow. Pepper out".

Jakob's jaw was opened and he looked amazed, while John on the other hand was laughing maniacally with glee. "Learn it Ghost! Don't mess with Fox or he'll get your ass sent to Daytin". John's smile stretched from one ear to the other, and even Mikki had a look of satisfaction smeared across his face.

"But Fox, surely you can't be serious about this?" He was obviously still trying to deny the fact that he had been a little too commanding lately. ''No, I am as serious as serious can be, you should better prepare yourselves for tomorrow" Fox replied authoritatively.  
"But wouldn't it be much easier if Krystal and I got there by Arwing?" Fox laughed at this question for a moment and then answered with a big smile. "You seem to have misunderstood, Commander Ghost, you are not going there with Krystal!"

"I'm not? _What?_" He was fighting to find the right words to say but in the end he just gave up and stormed from the bridge.  
"_Wait!_ Have I given permission to leave?" Fox said, enjoying the situation. Ghost stopped in his tracks and turned around just to see Mikki and John grinning at him. "You are dismissed" Fox then said, and while Jakob stormed out of the room, Mikki and John both saluted Fox with a "Sir, yes sir!".

"Hey Saber, look at this, who am I now?" Mikki and John were walking down the hallway on the Great Fox, on the way to Jakob's room. Mikki was holding his left hand over one eye, and making a sad and bewildered expression on his face. "Wait, I know! Is it... _Jakob_?" John exclaimed with a smile. Mikki started clapping like a seal to the amusement and odd stare of Slippy who just walked past them. "It really isn't that bad training recruits now that you are coming Shield. Besides, the way Fox made Ghost come along too was just wonderful. I never thought I could experience such joy!". John said this with an overdone British accent, clearly imitating Jakob. They both laughed aloud as they finally came to Jakob's room and knocked on the door.

_"Hey! Ghost! _We need to get ready for the drop ship! Mikki yelled, slamming the door. Ghost opened it, anger and despair were painted across his face, "I'm ready, just relax", he said as ca1mly as he could muster. "Damn Ghost, it isn't that bad! Just some training with those recruits we sometimes lecture" Mikki comforted rum. Jakob thought about it for a moment looking once at Mikki and John, the latter not paying attention to either of them, juggling with some strange objects which reminded Jakob of something. "I know, I know. But it's more the fact that Fox said those things; that I have been too dominating lately. Plus, he didn't let Krystal go with us!" he finally said, ignoring John's juggling.

"Think about it Ghost, you don't really need Krystal on this one, it's simple training! Besides, now that we finally get to show how good we are, we are going to train these recruits into natural born fighting machines!". Shield, ever the optimist with a big smile spread across his face was now looking at Jakob, but noticed John's juggling too, and his face suddenly became grave. Jakob, not understanding this, looked confused. "What?" Mikki just pointed at John who was still juggling with the strangely familiar object Jakob had noticed earlier. Saber turned around and they both looked at John, who was throwing hand grenades around, juggling with them.

"_IDIOT!_ Are you trying to get us all killed?" Jakob yelled in his face, and he suddenly stopped the juggling. "Damn you both, I never get to have any fun!" John pinned the two grenades back on his belt and threw the third to Jakob. "Here, I borrowed this one from you" Jakob barely caught it. "You insane ba..." he began, but decided with himself that it would be best not to provoke John's anger any further by saying "bastard". "What the hell did you do that for?" it came out angrily from Jakob's mouth. "I was thinking that it would be cool to impress the recruits a little, you know, with the hand grenade juggling and stuff!" John replied with a smirk.

Mikki almost started laughing, and all three of them just ignored the incident and continued on to their Arwings. "If I remember correctly, we were to fly our Arwings to the drop ship, right?" Jakob stated more than asked. Mikki and John nodded, climbing into their Arwings. The three Arwings took off from the Great Fox and continued on to a nearby drop ship. The drop ship was pretty big, with enough room to house at least 200 recruits. As they entered, they saw that there weren't many faces there to welcome them, mostly Arwings and Landmasters.

"Huh? Am I missing something here guys? I thought there was supposed to be like, troops and stuff. Hopefully we aren't going to train Landmasters!" John said with a grin, feeling a bit ahead of the others, but neither Jakob nor Mikki laughed. Mikki had a hopeless look on his face "Do you ever read the specifics of our missions? We are to be sent down with the General and some of his guards"

Jakob suddenly interrupted Mikki. "Twenty bodyguards to be exact.". Both Mikki and John looked hard at Jakob, and Mikki continued "Anyway, we are to be sent down with the general and his guards; other than that we are also coming down with these five Landmasters and Arwings".

John seemed a bit uninterested, almost looking through Mikki, "We are teaching them to use Landmasters and Arwings too?" He just replied. "_Damn it, Saber_!" Mikki yelled and hit ham hard, "Can't you just for once read the specifics for our missions!". "Jeez! Relax Shield, I just asked a question.".

"Just cut it out, let's go see the general" Jakob said firmly, and the three of them walked the short distance to the general who was suddenly there with five of his guards. "General James, Ghost, Shield and Saber reporting." The general smiled when he saw Jakob, but his smile disappeared when he saw John. "Good day to you all, I trust you all know what our goal will be down there, right?" Jakob glanced nervously at John but replied with a firm "Sir, yes sir!".

"Good. And I see that you are the young hot-headed lieutenant who General Pepper asked me to train?". John simply nodded, a bit annoyed by the General's way of talking to him. "I will teach you some discipline, worry not about that, but all three of you will have to set an example for the recruits, so be at your best behaviour and show them how a real soldier is supposed to be!". Again he looked with a little mistrust at John. Jakob saw that John was getting annoyed by this and started talking to avoid disaster. "General, the report mentions that there will be some sergeants to support our training, but not the exact number, can you inform me of this?"

The general smiled at the interest which was shown by Jakob, "There will be ten sergeants down there, all very, VERY capable men. I am sure you will find them useful in training the recruits. As you already know this was supposed to be lead by me, with some lieutenants and commanders after my choosing, but things changed a little and now I am here with you.". Mikki had not said anything to the general at all, and finally asked a question that had nagged his mind since the start. "General, I know it is not my place to ask, but why is it that you have twenty bodyguards with you?".

"Yes sergeant Mikki, only a reasonable question. It is always a good thing to be as safe as possible, Daytin is not an explored planet and there could be anything down there. It has of course been scanned and nothing dangerous was tracked, but one can never be too sure. Besides, you yourself could be assassins sent to kill me, working undercover; these guards are here to prevent that.". The general finished with a smile, satisfied with his own explanation and reasoning. John broke out in laughter, and both Mikki and Jakob knew that the question had brought them in an unpleasant situation.

"You think that those five, or even all twenty of your bodyguards could stop me if I wanted you dead? If I wanted you dead, you would need an army to keep me away!" John ended it with that and there was an unpleasant silence in the air. "Saber!" Jakob hushed and Mikki just tried not to look at John who didn't understand their reactions. Slowly General James changed colour from normal to reddish, his face blushing. He calmed down and looked sternly at John. "You all know what to do; we will arrive at Daytin shortly. I do not want to have any more of this and certainly not in front of the recruits."

John seemed pleased by the fact that he had upset the general, and all three members of G-Wing replied with a semi-Ioud "Sir, yes sir!". The general slowly turned around with a sly smile on his face, speaking calmly and controlled. "Oh, I almost forgot. Sergeant Saber, you will from now on receive the same rations as the recruits instead of the planned officer rations." He turned around and walked away. John was paralysed, but Mikki and Jakob both had a grin on their faces.

"Did... Did he just call me sergeant?" Mikki couldn't hold it anymore and laughed aloud, "Demoted on the first day of this training mission, I can't believe it!" He sputtered out. John was as angry as angry could be, and he threatened Jakob not to start laughing, which of course made him laugh. "SHUT UP BOTH OF Y0U!". Jakob slowly stopped and spoke "Well, we are almost there, buckle up G-Wing" as he said it John sat down on the chair which was embedded to the wall of the drop ship and tied his seatbelt in a peculiar fashion. Mikki did the same, still laughing. "This recruit training isn't so bad, I'm glad I volunteered" Mikki said and patted John on the shoulder.  
"Well team, looks like it's back to boot camp!" Jakob exclaimed and they all felt the rush as the drop ship neared Daytin.

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**_ Yeah, well, this chapter is a bit complicated. It draws close to a large mission here at the end, but I'm afraid you won't be seeing anything of Daytin... at least not in this round. As much as I wanted to see it, the guy whom I had asked to write the next chapter decided to back out after a long time of wait, but he did manage to reveal his idea of a plot to me; he just never managed to convert it into a chapter. If I make a sequel to this story someday, I'm most certainly going to write about the Daytin-mission, based on the plot-ideas he gave me. But for now, I've decided to include this chapter nevertheless. A lot of references to Daytin and the events, which are present in this chapter, will come in the later chapters, so I thought it would be best if you knew, what had been going on _**before **_Daytin, although you never got to see the planet itself. I hope this chapter will help you understand some of the persons, items and places, which are referred to in some of the later chapters.

I thank you for your understanding! The next chapter will be there in four days' time, as usual! Enjoy!


	7. Chapter 6: Deeper than the Soul

**_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_** I just want to say thank you to all of you (special thanks to **GamerJay** and **Fox the Cave (II)**), who have reviewed my story so far. You guys are great! And so are your reviuews. They are truly helpful to me. Just keep those reviews coming, folks! Now, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

**Chapter 6: Deeper than the Soul ****  
**  
From lieutenant John (Saber)'s log: _Day 8: Had Slippy install a camera in my Arwing. And he said that he'd also install some photon cannons. I'm not sure what they do, but it sounds cool. If we're sent on any missions, I'll shut that bragging jerk Falco up when I deliver some Arwing OWNAGE…and film it at the same time! Oh, and it's nice to be a lieutenant again. I was demoted after I pissed that general off at Daytin. But apparently, they've realised that I should rightfully be a lieutenant; they promoted me back at the Fleet Academy yesterday. Day 9: We've just been called for to assist a Cornerian convoy. Man, those Cornerians are gays! They can't defend themselves at all. Well, it's good for them that someone's always ready to dish out the pain…ME! __  
_  
From commander Jakob (Ghost)'s log: _17:54, Lylatian Standard Time. After the episode on Daytin, I have become increasingly more attentive towards what is going on in different parts of Lylat, and I never hesitate to report to either Fox or General Pepper. Several rogue groups have sprung up in various quadrants, and they are starting to become a problem. We will deal with them when the time is right. But also, I feel that something is gathering momentum, like silence before the storm. As I learned on Daytin, secrets can unveil themselves at any time. I fear that we will be facing such times soon. Well, the others just say that I am a bit paranoid, so I guess it is nothing. _

_From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log: OMG, Daytin was awesome! And I've fought real demons, not just the ones in WoW. DEMONS, dude! And I blew a lot of stuff up, so I feel good right now. Fox talked about assisting a Cornerian convoy just before. Well, too bad…I'm in the middle of an instance! Oh well, the order came from Fox and it's the Cornerians that are in need of help…so FUCK these noobs. They weren't good, anyway. _

"Corneria, please come in, this is cargo transport convoy Omicron-White-Six! We're under heavy fire. Please respo…". That was the last thing the young husky in the escort Arwing heard from his comrade, who was blasted to smithereens directly in front of him by the rogue ships, leaving nothing but another interstellar vapour trail in space, and static on the radio channel.

The convoy, which was en route to Corneria with food as well as medical and military supplies purchased from Macbeth at the other end of the Lylat System, consisted of two freighters and an escort wing of fourteen Arwings. Until now, the journey had been going smoothly and without a glitch, but they had not gotten far into Meteo, the asteroid belt surrounding Corneria, before they had been attacked by a squadron of about twenty-five rogues, each of them flying a ship that looked like a home-made and cheap version of the dreaded Venomian Invader-class fighter.

The rogues' ships were oddly painted: White with stripes of black all over them in confusing patterns. Although they looked weak at first glance, their shields and hulls were surprisingly sturdy, and their cannons fired a mixed pulse- and laser beam, which efficiently drained the energy shields of the Arwings and made short work of their hulls. The combination of this weaponry, the surprise attack and their sheer numbers had left even the well-trained Cornerian pilots outnumbered and outgunned; of the original fourteen escort craft, there were only five left, but the rogues had also suffered a great loss so that they were only twelve now.

The husky spun his Arwing around in a dazzling evasive manoeuvre to shake off the two rogue ships clinging to his tail, while he at the same time tried to keep up a position next to the freighters along with the other Arwings. The plasma turrets on top of the freighters opened fire with a thundering sound, sending wave after wave of highly concentrated green energy at the rogues following them, making three of them explode. The remaining nine ships spread out to ensnare the convoy from every possible angle. As the husky saw them closing in what looked like a circle of doom, he thought of his family on Corneria and how they would react to the news of his death. He closed his eyes mournfully, but opened them quickly as he heard a beeping noise from his radar screen. He knew it all too well: It meant that other craft were approaching their location through hyperspace. "More rogues." he thought to himself. "Fuck it. I won't be here to see it.".

His comlink crackled to life, but instead of the "pre-death" taunt that rogues were so known to say before they blasted their enemies out of existence, a cheery voice sounded from it. It was talking with a distinctive British accent. "Hey guys, it looks like you could use a hand! This is G-Wing, moving to engage.". And a bit further in front of the convoy, four Arwings jumped outof hyperspace and plotted a trajectory straight towards them.

The husky suddenly became tense. He had heard of the fabulous team called G-Wing – everyone at the Cornerian Fleet Academy had – but moreover, a couple of guys from his class had been on the planet Daytin when a great battle, involving demons on one side and G-Wing on another, was raging. These guys had gotten to know the members of the team and seen them in action, and they never let an opportunity pass to tell exciting stories about what the team was capable of. The husky tightened his paws around the control column of his Arwing. He was anxious to see if G-Wing lived up to the legend.

From his cockpit, Jakob surveyed the inferno of red and green laser and plasma blasts that they were heading into, after he had transmitted the message to the convoy that he and the others were moving in. As he got a decent view of it all, he quietly mumbled: "You've got to be frigging kidding me!".

The immediate area got a bluish tint to it whenever a laser beam was absorbed by the heavy positron shields of the freighters. Furthermore, Ghost saw the rogues closing in steadily on the convoy like a swarm of hornets, moving cautiously, but with the intent to strike hardly and swiftly. He quickly transmitted a message to his team.

"Okay guys, look sharp. We need to take out these rogue pests before they can cause severe damage to this convoy or, even worse, destroy it. Your targets of priority have been marked on your radar and HUD. And remember, Corneria is depending on these supplies, so no fancy flying just to look good: We're doing this by the book. All fighters engage!". And with that, the four fighters split up, activated their afterburners and headed straight into the fray.

The first thing that crossed Jakob's line of sight was one of the escort Arwings being chased by three very persistent rogues that continued to fire on him and slowly, but steadily, drained his shields to the point where his hull would be exposed and one hit would kill him. "Bogeys are hitting me hard, I can't shake them!" the pilot squealed over the radio as he flittered past. Jakob's face became hard with determination and he turned his Arwing sharply, so that he was in a position behind the three rogues. "Not this time… bitches!" he whispered to himself, before he pressed the button on the control column that activated his guns. His newly installed tachyon cannons flashed ominously for three seconds, as azure rays spurted out from them and bombarded the rogues' shields and hulls. After they had exploded, their dying screams over the comlink lingered in his ears as a proof of just what these guns could do.

"See? I told you there were pirates out here before we went to Daytin, Krystal! And _man_, was I right!" he shouted over the radio as Krystal's Arwing flew past him in pursuit of two other rogues. He knew his eyesight was bad, but he could have sworn that he saw the cerulean vixen giving him a quick salute and a smile before disappearing from his sight on another course to finish off the rogues. Her transmission "This one's starting to crack!" and two explosions shortly after told him that she had succeeded.

Meanwhile, at the other side of one of the freighters, it was for once not the Cornerians panicking, but three rogues. The person who had locked on to them was known as a fearless soldier, both on land and in space, who did not fear pain, suffering or any other such thing. And he could fly an Arwing with admirable expertise. The rogues knew this from when they glimpsed his face through the cockpit window.

"Got visual, switching to weps… " Mikki said in a monotonous voice into the comlink. He used the standard slang for weapons, but he hated shooting enemies down with lasers like all the others did; it was so trivial just to do it with your lasers. He quickly glanced around to make sure that the freighters or any friendly fighters were not in the radius of what he planned to do. When he had made sure that no-one was there, he said "Screw this! Contact in range, weps are hot…Launching Nova-bomb now!". And from the front of his craft, a compact red-glowing spheroid erupted, which seemed to position itself between the three rogue ships and then explode with a muffled boom in a bright blue and white flash. When the flash died down, there was nothing left of the fighters that could be seen with the naked eye. Mikki snickered and flew on.

The last remaining rogue had apparently not realised that he was the only one left. Wantonly, he targeted the main power generator of one of the freighters. "I've picked my target. Closing in…" he said to no-one in particular, just purely out of habit, and flew closer to the generator. As he was about to launch a missile, he heard something being transmitted over the radio that would soon be disastrous to him.

"Oh, _fuuuuccckkkheeeeaaaad!_...". The last word was pronounced in a singing and merry way, but the rogue knew that it was not to be thought of as a happy joke. He looked behind him, and, just as he had expected, an Arwing came flying in for the kill. Through the cockpit window, he saw John's face with a big and happy smile on it. Before he opened fire, John had something to say to his enemy. "DIE FUCKING-ASSHOLE-MOFO-BITCH-ROGUE!". And then, the rogue ship exploded.

Jakob had never in his life thought that he would hear such a large torrent of swear words being pronounced so fast, but he just had. "Saber, would you mind telling me _WHAT THE HELL_ is wrong with you! It seems like that discipline-teaching trip to Daytin didn't help at all!" he shouted into the comlink, but not without a tone of friendly joking in his voice. "Oh, nothing Ghost. I mean, really! I just let my emotions out before they bottle up inside!" Saber grinned and flew to the spot where Jakob was, accompanied by Mikki, who could not stop talking about the spectacular way he had finished the rogues off with his Nova-bomb. "Dudes, these Nova-thingies _rock_, man! Did you see that flash? _BOOM, HEADSHOT!_ Oh my God, that was so frigging _cool!_"

"Yeah, Shield, I think we're all familiar with the mechanics of the Nova-bomb, thank you!" John said flatly. "Hey, Shield, don't feel down. I think it was cool, too!" Jakob said. "But just use it against a battleship next time, okay?" "You're right, Ghost. I will!" Shield said determinedly. "Hey, guys! Ghost, I took care of those two rogues you saw me follow." Krystal said as she joined up with their formation. "I knew you would. Great work!" Jakob said to her.

"Attention, all G-Wing ships, this is the freighter _Golden Dawn_, head of freighter convoy Omicron-White-Six.". The message was transmitted from the foremost freighter of the two. "Thank you very much for your help. We would be very grateful if you could escort us back to Corneria from here. We have lost most of our fighter escort and our shields are down to about 20, but otherwise we're fine. Will you help us out?"

Ghost exchanged looks with the others through their cockpit windows before replying. "This is Commander Ghost speaking. We'll gladly help you reach home. Leave any enemies to us and the other fighters, but of course we won't dislike any covering fire from those plasma turrets of yours. Okay, team, take up escort formation and stay alert. We don't want anyone to get the drop on us, now do we?". The four ships split up and positioned themselves at different places around the convoy along with the other fighters. Once they were all in place, the convoy and the fighters activated their afterburners, and they all sped on through the asteroids.

After fifteen minutes of flying, Corneria came into sight as they flew into the outskirts of the dense asteroid field. "Man, just look at it! So big and beautiful. And you guys_rock_ by the way!" the young husky pilot said to the team over the radio. He had tried to fight valiantly, but G-Wing always managed to snatch his kills. "Thanks. We're glad to hear that!" Jakob answered. "Alright, everyone, we're almost there. Convoy Omicron-White-Six, how are you holding up?" "Fine" the two freighters answered. "Our hulls are intact and our shields have recharged. Can't wait to see Corneria again!"

"I know what you… Wait a sec!" Ghost suddenly exclaimed as he looked at the control panel in his Arwing. The scanner was telling him something rather disturbing, and they all concentrated on what he was saying. John and Mikki even stopped their violent discussion about items in WoW to listen. "Guys, we've got movement. Man, this is just what we need!" he mumbled irritably. "I'm reading ion fluctuations in the lower discharge frequencies; they're coming closer every second.". There was a moment of complete and dumbfounded silence, and then Shield shouted desperately over the comlink: "What the _FUCK_ does that mean!"

"Well, most deep-space fighters, including our Arwings, are driven by engines that discharge ions." Jakob explained, as he watched the fluctuations move closer, but still out of range of his radar, which meant he could not identify them properly. "But not just one single ion after another; they're discharged in entire fluxes to make the ship move further with each discharge. The more ions per flux, the larger a "thrust" forward the ship will get per discharge.". The signatures from the fluctuations were still coming closer, and Jakob started to talk faster out of sheer nervousness.

"Now, small fighters of a light to medium class discharge fewer ions per flux than, say, freighters. But the ions discharged are never constant; they fluctuate, hence ion _fluctuations_. Fighters discharge about 200-500 ions per flux, and these values lie in the lower discharge frequencies, which stretch from 10-500 ions per flux. The discharge of a freighter fluctuates around approximately 1100-1400 ions per flux, and it fits with the higher discharge frequencies; they lie around 1000-1500 ions per flux. There is more weight or mass to move in a freighter, so the engine needs to discharge more ions per flux, or, in other words, at a higher frequency, to keep them going" Ghost continued, now getting seriously worried, because the fluctuations were now in range and almost upon them. He could identify them: Rogue fighters.

"So, if I'm reading fluctuations in the lower frequencies, it means that fighters are closing in, which, in turn, means that…we've got company!" Jakob finished grimly, as a contingent of ten rogue fighters jumped out of hyperspace right beside them and swooped down upon the convoy like birds of prey.

"Well, thank you for the lecture, Einstein!"John shouted sarcastically over the radio as the first laser beams began to whistle past them. "I didn't grasp half of it, but I know this: _We're in serious fucking trouble!_" "You don't need to tell me that twice. All fighters, break off and engage!" Ghost shouted, meaning for the fighters to break the escort formation before they went into combat. The turrets on the freighters once again unleashed a barrage of plasma charges upon the enemies, but this group of fighters seemed to have a strike plan: Whenever some of them were destroyed, others jumped in from hyperspace to replace them. Ghost immediately knew that they could not do this alone.

"Krystal!" he shouted into the comlink "Return to the Great Fox and give them our position. If there are any remaining rogues in the sectors around us, dispose of them as well!".  
"But Ghost, I want to stay and help…" she began but was cut off by Jakob. "Return to the Great Fox NOW! _That's an order!_" he barked, and watched as her Arwing immediately jumped to hyperspace. Then, he focused his attention on the battle going on and decided that they would win it.

After ten minutes of fighting, they had not come any closer to that goal. Every time a fighter went down, another one popped up from hyperspace. Everyone was tired and frustrated: Shield flew around, blasting fighters at random, all the time mumbling some incoherent things over the squadron-wide comlink about how he was going to kick the butts of the newbies who had left him alone during his latest WoW-escapade. Saber hunted fighters with a frenzied determination, shouting "Bas-tard, bas-tard, bas-tard!..." in a rhythmic tempo, as the blasts from his photon cannons hammered into the shields and hulls of his enemies. Ghost was paying absolutely no attention to what he was doing; he let himself be controlled by intuitive reflexes and his instincts and experience. His mind raced feverishly to calculate how long it would take Krystal to report back to the Great Fox and get them to come.

Suddenly, the immense trance was broken as Mikki said "Hey, guys… I've just wasted one and another one didn't come!". Everyone started to take down more fighters to see if this statement was true. With a deafening "BOO-YAH!", John demolished the fighter he had been chasing and then blinked in wonder a few times. "You're right, Shield! _Yeah!_ Take that, bitches! You want some of John's _blade_…huh… you want some of John's _blade_...".

Between the mix of victory comments and John's version of "Another One Bites the Dust", Jakob knew that someone – presumably the Great Fox – had wiped out the rogue groups that were stationed in other sectors in the vicinity, just waiting to jump through hyperspace and replace their fallen comrades. And then he heard a calm voice over the comlink, which could only be identified as Peppy's. "Align main guns on rogue group. All freighters and escort craft, break away!". And as a guardian angel, the slim, white form of the Great Fox appeared from the surrounding darkness.

"You heard the man, get away, damn it!" Mikki shouted and all Arwings and freighters activated their afterburners simultaneously and sped away from the group of remaining rogues, who had gathered in confusion. But this proved to be fatal for them, as the immensely powerful beams from the main guns of the Great Fox seared through space, bright and yellow like solar flares, and completely eradicated them all.

There was yet another moment of silence, just like before the attack, but this one was followed with shouts of jubilation from the freighter pilots and their escort fighters. "We can't thank you enough, Teams G-Wing and Star Fox, for all the help you've provided us with today. If it hadn't been for you, we would all be dead by now. When we get home, we'll pass the story of what you did on to General Pepper. I'm sure he'll be more than pleased with you guys! Convoy Omicron-White-Six, signing off!". And the ships flew on towards Corneria.

The members of Team G-Wing were hanging idly in space until Peppy said "He's right, you know. That was some amazing work you pulled off out there. We're rolling out the carpet. Bring yourselves home!". The team flew into the hangar of the Great Fox, glad to be onboard again.

When Mikki climbed out from his Arwing, the first thing he did was to go to Fox and Krystal, who were standing at the other end of the hangar, and give Fox a high five. Then, he turned his attention towards the hangar, where Slippy waddled towards Jakob, who had also just climbed out of his Arwing.

"Did you like the tachyon cannons I installed?" he asked hopefully. Ghost knelt down and placed a hand on Slippy's shoulder. "Slippy, my friend…" He gestured towards the long, sleek cannons that were placed on the underside of the wings "…these are my tachyon cannons. And they own. They _OWN!_ I've never seen anything take down three fighters so fast! These things are much better than conventional lasers. It's too bad that they were only sent to us as an experimental weapon, though, and according to Cornerian scientists it'll be too resource-consuming at the moment to mass-produce them for the Army. It's goddamn amazing to think that I'm shooting with a particle that can exceed the speed of light, which any normal particle can't do, and emit quite powerful radiation even in a vacuum. Some even say that it has a reverse perception of time, so that normal time-explaining physics can't…John, what the fuck are you doing?"

Jakob was brought back from his scientific daydreaming very abruptly, because John had been fiddling with the front of his Arwing for a good while now. He clicked some plating into place and stood upright again, holding what appeared to be a disc with visual recordings on it. He waved it around Jakob's nose as he came closer to them. "I'm finding the evidence that I can fly an Arwing better than Falco. We've had a little bet going on. And photon cannons _rule_, by the way!" he added, giving Slippy a "thumbs up"-sign as he passed. All three of them walked to the others at the other end of the hangar, and they all departed for the control room, where they knew that Peppy, ROB and Falco would be waiting for them.

On their way there, Ghost walked up next to Krystal and cleared his throat nervously. "Erm…Krystal….I just wanted to say sorry for…yelling at you out there. I guess I was too caught up in the situation to think straight. I'm sorry.". She did not answer him right away. Instead, she looked him directly in the eye. "How many times have we been assigned to missions together now, Jakob? For how long have we known each other?" she asked coldly. "Err…many missions…for a relatively long time, almost six months?" he answered hesitantly, not quite sure of what she wanted him to say and also pretty startled about the cold tone in her voice. Krystal nodded, and then a smile crossed her face.

"Then you should know by now that I won't get angry at you because of something like that. I think you were only trying to be protective. You didn't want me to take part in the fight because there was a risk that I might die. And you didn't want to tell Fox the sad news about that. Right?" the cerulean vixen asked softly. Jakob nodded, stupefied, for that was his exact motive. He did not want Fox to lose Krystal because of him or his actions. He just wanted the two of them to live on together. Apparently, Krystal was perfectly aware of this. "I know you like I know myself. Don't worry about it!" she said with a smile and patted him comfortingly on the shoulder as they reached the control room.

"Alright, Falco: Watch and learn, _bitch!_" John said eagerly as he hurried towards the row of instruments at the control panel, pushed Peppy out of the way, and started fiddling with some buttons and slits for discs. The blue-feathered avian shook his head slowly, indicating that he did not believe any of this. Finally, Saber found the right slit and smacked the disc into it. An audio-visual recording began to play at the wide holoscreen on the wall. It was an exact recording of the battle against the rogues, seen from John's point of view, with nifty manoeuvres, deadly blasts and annoying comments. At the bottom of the screen was written in green, fluorescent letters: "FALC0: U JUST G0T PWNED BY SAB3R! PH3AR MY 1337-SKI11Z!".

Falco stood as if he were immobilised for about five seconds. But then, a smirk crept onto his beak. "I'd like to see you repeat that statement" he said calmly, looking at John and pointing to the 1337-speak on the screen, still smirking "when I've _kicked your ass in the simulator!_". John immediately pulled the disc out of the control panel and whirled around. "Last one in the training pod is a jerk-off!" he shouted, setting off at a frantic pace to reach the simulator first, thus avoiding being called "jerk-off" by Falco the entire next week. Not in bad shape himself, the avian hurried off to catch up with him.

"So _that's_ why he mouthed off about having a camera installed in his Arwing!" Mikki said. "Idiot!". Ghost yawned and stretched. "Man, I'd better start doing something before I fall asleep. I'm going to the training room. Are you coming along, Krystal?" "Well…I'd rather spend some quality time with Fox!" Krystal answered. "Very well, suit yourself. See you!". And with that, Jakob walked off, waving to the others who returned his gesture.

Now, only Mikki was left from G-Wing. "So, have you guys got any plans for the rest of today?" he asked. Peppy answered him with a sly glint in his eyes. "Let's just say that you performed admirably out there today, and we're going to reward you for it!". Since he could not make any sense out of this answer, Mikki went to his room and played some WoW, unaware of the events that were about to unfold.

"C'mon, Falco, sing along!" John shouted over the thunderous roar ofthe Lylatian songthat echoed out from the loudspeakers on the bridge. Falco got wobbly to his feet and started singing in drunken unison with John, each of then clutching a bottle of Cornerian beer in one hand.

Jakob shook his head with a smile, clinked Mikki's glass with a "Cheers!", and took a sip of his Cornerian wine. Having very strong principles about alcohol, Shield only drank mineral water, since no Coke could be imported from Earth at the moment. Jakob had never seen Team Star Fox in such a festive mood. Even Peppy seemed to be a little bit woozy, although he stated strongly that he did not drink. Fox and Krystal were sitting on a couch at the other end of the room, talking in a low voice. Mikki leaned towards Ghost and shouted "They don't really need to keep their voices down. You can't hear a thing in here!". Jakob nodded and shouted "Yeah, you're right!" back to him.

Suddenly, and without warning, the two foxes got up and walked outside; into the main corridor. Jakob nudged Mikki in the side to get his attention and said "I know where they're going!" with a humorous tone in his voice. But he was gravely mistaken, for five minutes later, Fox came shambling in with a very worried expression on his face, sat on the couch and stared fixedly at the floor. And Krystal was not with him. Without a word, Ghost emptied his glass of wine, got up, and walked out into the corridor.

Krystal was standing with her back to him; staring out the window in the corridor and watching the shimmering stars float past the ship at a steady pace, since they were just drifting idly through space with no set goal. As she heard Jakob come closer, she turned her head a little to look at him. He could immediately see the haunted and stressed look in her emerald eyes, grief mingled with concern, and he instantly knew that whatever problems she had, it was something that lied deeper than the soul; something that had shaken the very foundation of her personality.

"I tried to keep them secret." Krystal said in a low voice, almost nothing more than a whisper. "I was afraid of what you all would think of me if I told you about them. But today of all days, when we were having a party and everything was great, I just couldn't take it anymore. They have increased over the past week. I tried to tell Fox just before, and I even showed him one of them, but he was too worried, so he went off to think about it after I had shown it to him. Now I feel completely alone with this. I just can't take it!". And she turned her head again to look at the stars.

Jakob wondered about this for a moment and then said "Krystal, you're making no sense at all right now. "They" have increased. Who or what are "they"? Andwhat's wrong? I'll gladly help y…"  
"_OH, I'M MAKING NO SENSE AT ALL, RIGHT? _Just do what Fox did and go back to "think about it"!" she suddenly snapped, turning her head wildly, tears spurting from her eyes. But Ghost did not go. On the contrary, he leaned nonchalantly against the wall and looked her as calmly as he could in the eyes, which now smouldered with the fires of rage. There was complete silence for ten seconds, only interrupted by John, Falco and even Peppy singing another song as only drunken people can sing them. After this silence, which felt like an eternity, Krystal dropped her eyes and looked at the floor.

"Sorry." she mumbled. "It's just…it's all bottled up inside, you know?" Jakob nodded, although she could not see it where she was looking. "Yeah, I know the feeling, and I would very much like to help you, but you need to tell me what it is that's haunting you. You know me like you know yourself, I recall you saying earlier today. And that means that you know you can always confide in me. So, Krystal, what's wrong?".

"Nothing." Krystal murmured sadly and unenthusiastically. Ghost did not buy that. "Oh, come on, don't give me that! I know you better than that!" he said a bit irritably, because he was actually feeling worried about the fact that she was hiding something unpleasant from him, whom she knew so well, and whom she could always count on. But she was also hiding it from Fox, whom she loved like no other. And since she did that, it had to be _very _unpleasant.

"Every time you say "nothing", it's always _some_thing. What is it?" Jakob asked insistently. Krystal looked up, and what shocked him was not what she was saying, but the expression in her eyes as she said it. Now, he was sure, he had seen true sorrow.

"The visions!" she whispered. "Visions of Cerinia's destruction. Both as I saw it and as others saw it. I keep telling myself that it's just a bad dream, but it's nothing like that. It's like being there again. As if they're trying to tell me something…the voices of the dead…". She once again collapsed into tears, but stopped almost as soon as she had begun. "But that's not all. Lately, I've been having the feeling that other Cerinians are out there in space somewhere, and it gets stronger every day.". Krystal fell silent, looking crestfallen, as if it were her fault that this had not been seen earlier.  
Ghost stood for a moment, pondering about all this. Then, a memory he had picked up from somewhere surfaced in his mind.

"Hmm…If I remember correctly, shortly after you joined Team Star Fox, the Cornerian Army started an investigation of what was left of Cerinia. And you instructed them how and where they should do it, since you were born there and knew the planet and its people like the back of your hand, right?". Krystal nodded, gesturing for him to continue. "As they came to you with the final number of deceased persons that they had estimated, you disagreed strongly, saying that they had missed…two, was it?" he asked, and she nodded again. Now, Jakob's logical sense and his sense of reasoning kicked in.

"Right. So that gives a reason for your feeling. Presuming, of course, that they have been taken away from the planet deliberately by someone, and not just pulverized when it collapsed. As for the memories and visions, I think it might have something to do with the time _we_ travelled to Cerinia. You were also very overwhelmed by feelings then.". What Jakob was referring to was a mission the two of them had been sent on to the remains of Cerinia, with the purpose of finding out who was responsible for its destruction.

"Now, I have never seen or heard about anything like this, but, on the other hand, until now I've never in my life met a telepathic vixen from another planet, so I think this sounds reasonable: Since the Cerinians were a telepathic race, I see no problem as to whether a bit of their personality – a spirit, you might say – lives on even after death and can commune with other living Cerinians. In fact, I think it may even be that way!" he mumbled to himself, but then he focused his attention on Krystal again, who was now listening intently. "And since we were on Cerinia, the "spirits" suddenly got confirmation that you were alive and started to communicate with you, maybe to tell you that the destruction of Cerinia hadn't been investigated properly and some of them were still alive somewhere in space, thus inducing this feeling in you! I think that's it." he finished.

Krystal closed her eyes, engulfed in deep thoughts for a moment, and then she opened them again, but not with the expression haunted by grief as he had seen before. Instead, a spark of life flared in them. "And I think you're right, Jakob. I think you're absolutely right. You can bet your life on that. I'm going to go to bed. I think I'll need the rest. I'll tell the others about this and try to locate the other Cerinians…tomorrow.".

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. And don't be afraid of the others' reaction; they'll just have to live with it. Goodnight, Krystal. Sleep tight!" Jakob said and turned around to head for his own room, but she grabbed him by the arm.  
"I'll never forget what you helped me find out and did for me today. Goodnight, my friend.". And she let him go, but not before giving him a look of heartfelt thankfulness from her emerald eyes.

"Hey J-Man!" John shouted across the table with his mouth full of Peppy's delicately made scrambled Saurian eggs. "Where the fuck were you last night? You disappeared in the middle of everything!".  
"I was just assuming the role of a psychiatrist to help out a deeply troubled individual. What's wrong with that?" Jakob asked as he sat down at the table and poured himself some coffee. "Krystal?" Mikki asked in a low voice, and Jakob nodded. Unfortunately, his voice was not low enough to maintain discretion; actually, everybody heard it. Peppy's ears jerked up at once. "Krystal? What's wrong with Krystal?".

"I think she'd like to tell you in person." Jakob said and pointed over his shoulder, where Krystal came through the door to the bridge. Everyone started eating much slower and looked at her expectantly. She returned their looks and then said in a calm voice "Guys, there's something I need to tell you. And don't be shocked. I've been having very vivid visions of the destruction of Cerinia lately.".

The effect was not at all what Jakob had imagined: John, Falco, Slippy and Mikki stared blankly at her as if they could not grasp it. Peppy squinted his eyes in wonder and said "Cerinia? But that doesn't exist anymore. I'm sorry to break it to you, Krystal, but it's a dead planet! It's…". He fell silent as she sent him a stare that implied: "Don't question my motives, just shut up.". Fox and Jakob did not move an inch when they heard it; nor did they move when Krystal told them all the details about it along with Jakob's hypothesis.

But she was not done yet. Just after she had said the last word about finding the Cerinians, she went resolutely to the holoscreen and pressed a few buttons. It changed into a map of the Lylat System, with a red dot indicating the position of the Great Fox. She put her finger on the dot, closed her eyes and slowly traced her finger along the map, finally stopping at a peculiar spatial phenomenon: A blue- and purple-coloured nebula, where the colours intertwined with each other.

"The Streaked Nebula?" Fox said and frowned slightly. "But what do you expect to find there? There's only nebular gas, debris and a…"  
"A planet, yes." Krystal finished his sentence for him. "Orakar 5. It has never been considered important because no-one would want to live in such an isolated place in the Lylat System. But apparently, some Cerinian-kidnapping scumbags do! Fox, can you go with me? Please, tell me you can!".  
Fox sighed and held her close. "I'm sorry, Krystal, really, but someone has to watch over the ship in case we're called for. I would really like to, but I can't go with you. I'm sorry.". "Then let _me_ go." a voice said from the door to the bridge.

They all looked. During Krystal's search for the Cerinians, Ghost had managed to sneak away, very true to the nature of his code name. He had changed his outfit, and now he was standing in his grey battledress, black trenchcoat and leather gloves while fixing his blasters, the SMGs hanging by his thighs in their holsters.  
Krystal immediately shook her head. "_No!_ They'll just capture and kill you, and then your life will be wasted. You don't stand a chance!"  
"You're right. _I_ don't stand a chance…" He clicked the magazine-shaped energy cell into place in one of the blasters "…but _we_ do!".

After a rather long discussion with Krystal, Jakob had persuaded her to take Saber with them. They would need all the help they could get. Since Orakar 5 was a jungle planet, they would have to sneak through the jungle and infiltrate the base that they presumed was down there, and John could be stealthy if the opportunity presented itself. Shield, however, much to his chagrin, would remain behind onboard the Great Fox as an advisor. Due to his rather impulsive use of explosives and heavy weapons, Ghost feared that their mission would be compromised before they could even breach the outer perimeter

Jakob and John were standing in the hangar, waiting for Krystal to join them. They had changed outfits to the classic Tiger Stripe jungle camouflage, and Ghost had cut his arsenal of weapons down to only one blaster and his knife. Saber had also been issued a knife instead of his katana for the sneaking part of the mission, which pissed him off quite much at first. Once they got inside the base, however, they would change back to their normal outfits and weapons.

"Look at that!" Jakob said and gestured with his blaster at the window in the hangar that gave a view of the control room, where one could clearly see Fox and Krystal sharing an intimate goodbye. "Isn't it touching?"  
John stopped fiddling with his own old-school blaster and looked at Jakob. And then he experienced a seizure of laughter so violent that he could barely breathe. "Your blaster…" he stuttered out from between laughs "…it…it looks like crap!". And he collapsed onto the floor, laughing. Ghost looked at his blaster and decided that John meant the bulky, yet sleek, round metallic thing that he had put onto the front. "Oh, the photon neutralizer? It works by captivating some of the photons that are emitted with each shot, thereby reducing the flash and sound. It's just like a normal silencer for a normal gun". His words had absolutely no effect on John, who was still giggling to himself. "Whatever you say, J-Man, but it's still ugly!"

"Hey, guys! Are you ready?" Krystal asked, as she threw a pair of bags with camouflage patterns at them. Ghost's was large and round, to have enough space to house his rather voluminous trenchcoat and his other weapons, whereas Saber's was long and thin, with his new katana, Ragetooth, in the middle, and his clothes along the sides.

John had acquired the sword during the battle of Daytin, after he had defeated the leader of the enemy faction, who managed to break his ordinary katana with this strange sword. Ragetooth looked like an ordinary katana, but a lot of mystical, demonic runes were etched into the blade, giving off a faint, red glow for seemingly no purpose, but one who had possessed the sword long enough - such as Saber - would know that the red glow represented the pulsating force and obscure intelligence of the blade. These runes also imbued Ragetooth with a great deal of mystical power, giving it the ability to cut through thick steel - as well as flesh and bone - with ease.

Krystal was clad in a camouflage uniform on the outside of her normal blue one, and she had a camouflage-painted Cornerian sniper rifle across her back. "Yeah, we're ready!" Jakob and John said, and then they pointed at Krystal and started dancing around energetically. She looked at them in great wonder for a moment, since she had never seen such a behaviour before a mission, and then she shook her head in disbelief.

"You're unbelievable sometimes, you know that?" she said with a smile. They nodded, and the three of them boarded their Arwings, wished the people onboard the Great Fox good luck, and blasted off through hyperspace to the preset coordinates of The Streaked Nebula. "And I'm telling you, Krystal" John said fiercely during their hyperspace travel "if any of these scumbags get in my way, I'm gonna…_FUCK ME!_".

They had just jumped out from hyperspace, and there, in front of them, was The Streaked Nebula. It looked like a gigantic cloud with bands of azure and purple running across its surface. They knew that it would be very beautiful when they flew through it, but also very hard to see any details because of the constant shift of blue and purple.

"Okay, Krystal, do you have the planetary coordinates set now?" Jakob asked. "Yes, here they are!" she said and transmitted them to their radars. Jakob felt it as if the nebula was reaching out to swallow them whole, and he did not like that thought. Nevertheless, he bolstered his confidence up and said over the comlink: "Alright, chums, we're here. Thumbs up, engage afterburners and let's do this!". And with a deafening "_HOO-YAH!_" said over the radio in perfect unison, the three fighters plunged into the nebula.

"_Man!_ I can't see a damned thing in here!" John complained, as the three Arwings continued to fly through the nebula to reach the coordinates that Krystal had given them. The sight was actually pretty spectacular: At first, they flew through a segment of space that was purely azure, stars gleaming from behind the veil of nebular gas like small diamonds. Gradually, as they entered one of the purple gas pockets, the colour of the nebular gas – and thereby also space - around them changed from azure to light blue, dark blue, indigo, and finally a nuance of purple that lied somewhere between violet and deep purple. Now the stars reminded Jakob of amethysts instead of diamonds.

"By the way, Krystal" Ghost asked as he watched the stars float past outside "how did you know it was here?" "Yeah, I would also like to know!" John said. "If I could get everything to be where I wanted it to be just by pointing my finger, heck, I knew where I would be and with what. On a sunny beach with a million girls!" he grinned.

"Actually, Saber, I didn't just ´point my finger´" Krystal said a bit irritably, firstly because she would have expected him to know when he saw the process, but also because it pained her to think about anything that concerned the memories or the lost Cerinians. Ironically, she kept shutting it out of her mind, although it was to that destination that they were headed and with that very purpose: To confirm the existence of other living Cerinians.

"If it were that easy I would've done it a long time ago. Today, I used an old Cerinian thought-locating method, called the "Out of Mind"-technique. I had specific Cerinian impulses, thought patterns and feelings to focus on because of the visions and feelings of the past days. And then, I just let the mind fly on its own. It's as if I float away from my body and get pulled along an invisible line until I see what I have focused on to begin with. I just traced my mind's process on the star map with my finger."

"Alright, thanks Kry…_WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?_". The reason for John's exclamation filled with angst was a small stone that had just bumped off his shield in front of the cockpit window. The shield shimmered for half a second as it repelled the object, and then the stone was sent flying on an entirely different course. "You're letting your fear and anxiety overcome you, I can feel it!" Krytal said to John, finally using her mental powers to actually sense something within a person. "Your brainwaves are distorted by this. Relax and calm your mind. You won't be any good to us down on Orakar 5 if you're extremely tense.".

"You know" Jakob chimed in "you should follow her advice whenever she says something like that to you. I do it all the time, and it actually helps! And by the way, we're entering a nebular debris field, a common phenomenon in most nebulae. They often just consist of pebble, formed from reactions between the surrounding layers of gas and elements. It's entirely unlike asteroids, where you have to watch where you're flying, or else… CRASH! You're dead. These things won't even penetrate our shields; they'll just do as the other one did before: Get repelled. It's quite relaxing sometimes to fly directly through a nebular debris field and just listen to the sound of the debris being repelled by your shields. Try it, Saber, as it seems you need to stress down a bit now!" he said. "Right. I'll give it a try. It's better than any other method of therapy I can think of at the moment!" John grinned through his cockpit window at Krystal, and the cerulean vixen raised her hand in a greeting gesture and grinned back.

As the Arwings continued deeper into the debris field, and the debris began to lie closer, John leaned back in his pilot's sear, closed his eyes, and listened to the soft bumping sounds of the debris that bounced off of his shield, and it was actually quite relaxing. Their shields utilized a technology that the Cornerian Army had come up with recently, and had sent to them - as was the case with Jakob's tachyon- and John's photon cannons - as experimental equipment: A mix of gravitational technology, which was based around the principles of gravity and the way that it affected magnetic energy fields around an object, and particle repulsion technology. When combined, as they were in their shields, these two technologies formed an almost impenetrable barrier around their Arwings, which effectively absorbed, repelled or neutralized the damaging impulses or particles found in laser, plasma and pulse weapons. However, even these technologies could be worn down when fired enough upon, and as such, just as it was the case with other fighter shields, the shields of the Arwings could be neutralized as well.

All of a sudden, something collided with John's shield with an unexpected and violent _BOOM_ that sent his Arwing rocking back and forth. Hurriedly, he looked around him through the cockpit window and checked his scanners, but could find nothing suspicious. "Oh! I presume that whatever hit me just before wasn't a _stone_, now was it, my dear Ghost!" he shouted ironically over the radio with a mocking imitation of Jakob's British accent in his voice.

"That's a very intelligent observation, Captain Obvious! No, it wasn't a stone, but a laser blast. I could both see and hear that, but what I don't know is exactly where it came from!" Jakob said to him. "I'm trying to pinpoint just that, Ghost, but I can't seem to get a fix!" Krystal said, desperately punching some buttons on her control panel. "Damned nebular scanner interference!".

She was right. The relatively high background radiation found in this type of spatial anomaly, combined with the overwhelming density of the millions of particles within it, reduced the effective range of the scanners to only 30 parsec; not much when compared to the 200 parsec that they could scan when in open space. And while they were busy finding out who had just attacked them, the attackers themselves decided to make their entry.

Five sleek ships zoomed out from behind a cluster of stones and started to open fire upon the Arwings with the Gatling-type laser cannons which were mounted under their wings. Although they were just painted in an ordinary grey colour, the ships' design blended in with the ever-changing forms of the nebula, so that they were hard to see. This instantly told Jakob what he and his team were up against.

"An enemy recon wing!" he shouted into the comlink. "Krystal, jam their transmissions. We don't want our presence to be known just yet!". "Done!" the blue-furred vixen replied a second after the order was given. "We've got approximately three minutes before they can get a patch through to the planet. Hit them hard!". Immediately, John and Krystal blasted off in pursuit of two of the ships.

Ghost aligned his Arwing behind one of the ships, which was desperately trying to get away from him. "I have one in my sights, taking the shot…" he said, before firing his tachyon cannons in a hail of azure rays. But then something weird happened before the shots collided with the ship, making it explode and the pilot inside scream for his life. In the wake of the shots, the nebular gasses started to whirl and implode, emitting incredible warmth, light and intense radiation. Jakob could feel it being absorbed by his shields, but nevertheless, he was scared and frustrated. Furiously, he slammed his fists into the control panel. "SHIT!" he shouted. "What?" John said as he demolished his target.

"I can't use my weapons in here! Remember what I've told you about the tachyon's reverse perception of time? That time's supposed to go backwards in the wake of such a particle? Well, it seems that it's true. Before the Big Bang, all these gasses were compressed into a small solid sphere, which emitted intense radiation and warmth because of all the processes taking place within it. That's exactly what happened to the nebular gasses when I fired. If I keep firing, I may run the risk of making this nebula implode on us, and we don't want _that_ to happen, I can assure you! But you guys' weapons won't do something like that; they don't affect time. Eliminate the rest of them; we don't have much time left. Get to it!" Ghost screamed, before spinning out of the way of Krystal, who flew past just in front of him and shot down her target.

Apparently, the two remaining fighters had realised that Jakob was practically harmless, because they positioned themselves behind him and opened fire simultaneously. Although they managed to bring his shields down a bit because of their barrage, the shields of the Arwing were much too strong for the lasers to do any significant damage. "Is that the best you can do!" he laughed and whirled his Arwing downwards in a fast evasive manoeuvre. The fighters followed him and positioned themselves behind him again. But they did not fire right away. They did absolutely nothing for one second, and then green sizzling beams started to spurt from their cannons. Although Jakob did his best to avoid them, one of them inevitably hit him. But it did not get absorbed by his shield; it flew right through it as if the shield was not there, and smashed against his hull with profound force.

"Oh _DAMN!_ These guys are using anti-matter salvoes; my shield can't absorb them. Nothing we have can absorb anti-matter. In fact, I thought it couldn't be made! Team, I really need some help here, or else I'm done for!"Ghost shouted, dodging their fire frantically. Several seconds passed by, but the others were apparently too far away to come to his aid right now. And the comm. jamming was almost expired. Ten seconds remained. He realised that they would not be able to stop the ships from transmitting in time, and then their mission would be a failure already. Suddenly, a transmission was sent over the comlink.

"RaaaAARRRGGH…_DIE!_". This mad scream echoed out from the loudspeaker in the comlink, as Saber's Arwing made a quick swoop down from somewhere above Ghost and fired an extremely well-placed shot into the engine of one of the enemy ships. It exploded instantly. Only one ship, and three seconds of the comm. jamming remained, but this was abruptly brought to an end by Krystal, who followed John's trajectory, fired a single shot in exactly the same way as he had done, and demolished the last ship.

Jakob brushed some sweat off his brow with a "Whew!" and then said "Alright, team, that was heavy going, especially because I thought that anti-matter salvoes were a weapon that could never be developed because of the immense complexity that it would cause if one was using ordinary physical science, but they were there and you pulled it off nicely. Well done! Now, let's find that planet. According to the coordinates, it should be somewhere to our right.".

They all squinted their eyes and looked around. Finally John said "I can't see shit in here. I think you got it wrong, Krystal.". "No!" she replied strongly. "It _is_ here. I know…" she began, but was interrupted by John when a quasar flashed not far away from their location and illuminated the immediate area. "HOLY CRAP! Was that lightning? And did you see the size of that thing?" "No, John, that wasn't lightning, but a quasar; a very brightly shining star. Man, you've got much to learn about space still, considering you've spent quite some time out here in the past few months." Krystal said wonderingly, because she would have expected him to have learned much more. "And yes, we saw the size of the thing. That's Orakar 5 for you, guys!".

The planet was actually quite huge, with – as far as they could see with their vision obscured by the nebula – tropical rain forest across the surface. How it could be that a rain forest could grow without proper access to sunlight would remain a mystery.

"Just a moment!" Krystal said, as they were getting ready to activate their afterburners. "I've programmed some individual landing coordinates into my computer. I'm sending them to you now. It's for our own safety: If one of us should get captured on his or her way through the jungle, the other two will still have a chance to save that person, instead of the entire team getting captured if we went the same way all of us. And we're so close to the planet now that I can definitely feel other Cerinian minds down there. So that means that there _is_ some sort of base, and I can approximately tell at which coordinates. Hang on…".

A few seconds later, different coordinates flashed on each team member's computer screen. "We're all set to go now. So let's do it!" Jakob said, and yet again, the three of them sped off optimistically towards Orakar 5.


	8. Chapter 7: Murphy's Law

**Chapter 7: Murphy's Law ****  
**  
From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log: _It's really empty here on the Great Fox when the others have left. All I'm doing is to sit here in the control room and monitor their vital signs...and update my log. Well, obviously, the other two, Saber and Ghost, can't do that since they aren't here. Wherever they're heading, it must be goddamned exciting! _

The roaring noise of engines as an aircraft descended upon the surface of Orakar 5 broke the natural silence of the rain forest. But as soon as the noise had come, it suddenly stopped, giving way for the natural silence to be restored. The cockpit opened and Jakob jumped down to the ground, the cockpit closing behind him. He flung his bag with equipment onto his back and pressed a small button on the combined watch and Arwing-remote around his wrist. Almost instantly, the Arwing cloaked itself by using small cameras everywhere on its surface to reflect the exact same image as they were seeing, and in a few seconds, it was practically invisible.

"Thanks, Slippy!" he mumbled to himself before turning on his comm. unit; the earpiece with the microphone along his cheek. He picked up a rather violent debate. "…can't have it all in our heads like you do, now can we, Krystal?" John said angrily. "Hey, Saber, relax! I was just surprised that you hadn't learnt more about space, in spite of the fact that you've been here for a rather long time!" Krystal defended herself. There was silence for a few moments, then John said "Sorry, I…I don't know what happened just now. It's just…I just want to be right. Sorry, Krystal.". "It's okay, Saber!" she said with a sympathetic tone in her voice. "Every person can get ticked off every once in a while.". At this point, Jakob found it necessary to clear his throat to let the others know that he was also there and listened in.

"A-hem! Saber and Krystal, this is Ghost. I've landed and cloaked my Arwing. How about you?". They both gave affirmative responses. "Right. I'm beginning to move along my route now. We'll meet at the base.". The weak light from Solar, the great sun of the Lylat System, fell through the trees in the clearing, in which he had landed his Arwing, and cast strange shadows on the ground. The air was warm and moist, but not in an unbearable way; in fact, it was quite pleasant. The sky was of course almost nothing more than a piece of the nebula: Blue with purple stripes.

"And by the way, the sky is very beautiful. Reminds me of the old Hippie times." Ghost said, as he began to walk in between the trees with his blaster in his right hand at a slow and patient pace, sneaking forward very carefully, both to avoid being seen by making too many quick movements – although the Tiger Stripe camouflage blended in perfectly – and to be alert to everything around him. AsJakob walked, he drew his combat-knife from its sheath and held it with his left hand underneath the butt of his blaster, pointed downwards. That way, he could switch between using the blaster and engaging in melee with the knife instantly, if the enemies suddenly came upon him. "But" he continued his speech from before, after he had arranged the knife in its CQC-position "the sky also bodes ill…azure streaked with purple…blue Cerinian fur stained with crimson blood…"

"Would you shut up about those creepy forebodings and _get your ass to the base!_" John screamed almost insanely into his ear. "Relax, I'm moving…How're you holding up, Krystal?". "I'm fine" she answered "I just need to load my equipment up properly and then I'll be off. See you at the base!". The connection was terminated. Jakob kept on sneaking through the jungle, completely unaware of what the team would be walking into.

If you knew where to find it, whoever had built the base had not done a very good job of hiding it. It jutted out from the surrounding landscape conspicuously, like a weird giant rock, because it was painted a dull grey; a sharp contrast to the lush jungle. It consisted of a large rectangular main building, which undoubtedly housed underground complexes as well, and a series of smaller houses and tents around it. The houses were also grey, but the tents were olive green in colour and covered with camouflage nets. The jungle seemed to make out an effective borderline for the outer perimeter, for there was no fence, wall or anything like that.

Jakob was lying in a clump of bushes just where the jungle stopped and the base perimeter began, and surveyed the place with the Hi-Def Display Device that he had brought with him in his backpack. Guards in green camouflage-uniforms and balaclavas over their heads were patrolling the base grounds in routes that covered almost the entire area, and in front of the main gate, six guards were placed; four of them in front of the gate and two of them in watchtowers on either side of it. From what he could see, they were all armed with fast-firing automatic laser rifles, which would make quick work of anyone foolish enough to stand out in the open and be spotted. Furthermore, some of the guards at the higher vantage points also carried high energy output laser sniper rifles and something that looked like…crossbows? "No, it can't be crossbows; that won't make any sense at all!" he thought to himself. But on the other hand, he could not find any other explanation for what these weapons were. He flicked his Cornerian Medal of Honour thoughtfully with his finger.

After the episode on Daytin, the two teams that had participated in the fight, Team Star Fox and G-Wing, had been awarded the highest honour that the Cornerian Army could bestow on its troops: The Cornerian Medal of Honour. It was a six-pointed star made of gold, which was surrounded by a golden circle that just graced each of the points with its inner rim. A blue and white-striped ribbon with a needle made it possible to pin the medal on one's uniform. Jakob could still remember the ceremony that had been held at the Cornerian Fleet Academy, where the teams had been awarded the medals by General Pepper. It was also here that John had been promoted back to lieutenant again after his rather embarrassing demotion to sergeant, which was the result of him pissing General James off during the Daytin incident. From what he knew, Fox, Falco and the others kept their medals to themselves, whereas Mikki, John and he wore them everywhere and as often as they could.

As something soft landed upon his shoulder, he turned his head sharply and aimed with his blaster, only to find Krystal smiling down at him with a hand on his shoulder to let him know that she was there. "Hi!" she whispered and lay down beside him. "Hey, Krystal! Man, you scared the living daylights out of me!" he said with a smile, and handed her his binoculars. "Have a look at this. Can you find a way to get us in undetected?". She scanned the area for a while. "Enemy patrols…snipers…watchtowers…" she mumbled. "I don't think that there's an easy way to slip past all that, but we _must_ get in there. That means we have to work something out…but then again, the two of us always _do_ work something out!" she smiled, and handed the Hi-Def Display Device back to him.

Suddenly, a soft rustling of leaves could be heard and John came crawling through the bushes to their location. "Hey, dudes!" he said with a wry grin on his face, which did not at all look like it used to: A long wound scarred his left cheek, still bleeding slightly along with several smaller ones, his hair was straggly and his face and cap were dirty with soil. Krystal gasped, opened her bag with equipment in it and immediately began rummaging around for bandages and disinfectant. Jakob just looked at him with an expression of complete disbelief in his eyes and then said. "Saber, what the devil happened to you?". During the conversation, they kept their voices low, because they knew that the enemy was practically next to them

"Yeah, well, the jungle was a bitch. I had to jump into hiding because one of the enemy's recon craft came flying straight in my direction. And of course I chose the bush with the longest, sharpest and nastiest thorns in this entire fucking jung…Er, Krystal…what're you doing?" John said in wonder as Krystal let her hands slide smoothly across his face with her eyes closed, feeling every inch with her fingertips; even the wounds. When she had done that, the blue-furred vixen nodded to herself, before reaching up to the gash on his cheek. "Does this hurt?" she asked him and poked him carefully in the large wound. "_OW!_ Yeah, it hurts, what else did you expect?" Saber whispered angrily.

"Could you guys keep it down?" Ghost hissed "The enemy is _right out there!_". And he gestured wildly over his shoulder.  
"I just need to patch Saber up and then we'll get moving." Krystal answered, taking a bit of cloth from her bag and soaking it through with disinfectant before she reached up and dabbed it carefully on the wound. John did not even feel the stinging sensation it produced; he was too amazed by the fact that he was now being given first aid by a Cerinian in some bushes right outside an enemy base that he could not get his thoughts together. He did not think that Krystal cared intensively about anyone other than Fox and Jakob, but apparently she did. When that was done, Krystal found an almost flesh-coloured bandage and wrapped it tightly around the wound. "There! As good as new!" she smiled. John was dumbfounded at first, but then he sent her a smile in return.

"Hey, thanks Krys!" he whispered. "No problem!" she answered. "And what did you do to my face just before?" he asked. "I just checked for deep cuts. Don't worry about the small ones; they'll heal by themselves. But I was afraid that you would get an infection in the big one if it wasn't treated right away.".

"Great job, Krystal!" Jakob said approvingly. "Now, could we focus on the task at hand? I'll contact Shield to see if he can pick up anything interesting with those military satellite uplinks of his.". He flipped a small switch on the microphone in his ear and held a finger at it. "Shield, this is Ghost. Do you read me?". He leaned his head closer to the others, so that they could listen in as well. There was silence, and then Mikki's grumpy voice sounded in his ear. "Yeah, I read you. What do you want?". Immediately, John bent down to the microphone. "Hey, Shield! Oh, come on, now, don't be pissed off! Don't be grumpy just because _we're_ here in the middle of everything exciting, and are about to go in and rescue some Cerinians inside a base, where it'll inevitably come to a nice fire- and fistfight, and there'll be plenty of things to blow up and shoot without you…and because I stole one of your rockets!" he finished with a snicker.

There was silence for a moment, and then Mikki screamed out "You _didn't_!" in disbelief. "Check your bazooka, bitch!" John sneered provocatively and pulled out a rocket with "OWNAGE!" written on it from under his clothes. Beside him, Ghost mumbled "And I thought you were getting fatter. I was just about to order you to train more!". Mikki came back on the line. "I _swear_" he said, his voice now trembling with anger; it seemed that he _had_ checked his bazooka after all "that when you get back here, Saber, you'll get the greatest ass-kicking in the history of mankind, you _fuck!_".

"That'll have to wait until some other time!" Jakob whispered hurriedly. "For now, we need your help, Shield. Could you _please_ look at your satellite uplink and see if there's another way in besides the main gate? It's filled with troops and snipers here.". Again, there was silence, until Shield mumbled unenthusiastically "Yeah, there's an entrance at the back of the base with relatively few guards. I can't tell which ones are snipers or troopers from here.". Ghost nodded to the others. "Okay, we can use that. Thanks, Shield! Ghost out!".

He looked around at the others. "But why are you doing things like that? Stealing his rockets and such. What for?" Krystal asked John enquiringly. "Because I enjoy pissing him off! It's that simple, Krystal." John said. "Actually, Saber, I would be very pleased if you could refrain from doing that in the future, because he has provided us with some very valuable information right now." Jakob said in a moralizing way.

"I'm sure you heard it. I've come up with this plan: Krystal and I will take the back entrance. You can cover me with your sniper rifle from that tree over there, Krystal." he gestured towards a tall tree with long, thick branches in the jungle at the back of the base "As you see, there's plenty of jungle for us to move in, so we won't be seen on our way there. Saber, I've decided to send you directly through the front gate. If you time your movements, avoid the patrols and are able not to cause a commotion when you're taking those six guards at the gate out, you should stand a fair chance. Can everyone agree on this?" he asked.

"You have my vote, Ghost." Krystal said to him. John leaned towards Jakob with an undeterminable glint in his eyes. "What if I told you" he began "that your plan is the _worst... suggestion... EVER? _Relax dude, I'm just joking!" he added when he saw the startled look on Jakob's face. "I'll get in there and I'll get it done. Trust me, I'll own those gate-guarding idiots quietly, or at least so fast that they won't have a chance to report to others, I promise! And I'll find those Cerinians as well!".

"Sounds like a plan, then!" Krystal chimed in. "And, Saber, don't let your impulses get hold of you again, just as they've done on numerous other missions. That'll just lead to disaster. Okay?" she asked sweetly with a grin on her face and prodded him in the chest. "Don't worry, Krystal! I'll just teach these fuckers what it feels like to be John'ed!".

And with that final remark, their paths split. John, the lone skilled swordsman and commando, and the inseparable and lethal duo consisting of Jakob and Krystal, set out on each of their separate ways into the unknown.

"Alright, that's the tree right here. I think you'll get a nice view of the place from up there." Jakob said to Krystal as they reached the tall tree that he had seen from their other position. "Yeah, I think so too." the cerulean vixen answered. "And don't worry; I'll look after you…as I always do!" she smiled, and started to climb. As she came higher, Jakob suddenly noticed something golden and shiny, presumably made of metal, dangling from her hip. He called up to her in a low voice "Hey! What's that golden thing?". She looked down at him. "My staff. I just thought that it would be nice to have if the enemy got too persistent and absolutely wanted to engage in melee!". She resumed her climbing, and Ghost focused on his route.

From where he stood, he could see the main building of the base with a small iron door in it. That had to be the other entrance that Mikki had talked about. Two guards patrolled the area in front of it; one of them close to the door, the other one a bit further away. At some platforms amongst the treetops, two snipers were also located. However, Jakob could only see one of them, but he presumed that there were two because of the two platforms. Some of the grey houses and green tents were also spread out here, providing excellent opportunities for cover.

Quickly and silently, he moved across a bit of open space to one of the tents, which he pressed his back against. Shortly thereafter, Krystal's voice sounded over his comlink. "This is Krystal. I'm in position and I'll guide you through.". Ghost looked at the tree, but saw nothing. Whatever she had done, she had concealed herself very well.  
"Okay, let's do this! First guard, coming towards your position from the right." she informed him. He crept a little closer to the right side of the tent. Over the radio, Krystal counted down as the guard got closer. "Three…two…one…GO!"

As soon as she had said the final word, Jakob stepped around the corner while swinging his outstretched right arm and hand to the right in one fast, flowing motion. The edge of his hand hit the guard hard on the Adam's apple and as the man staggered backwards, gurgling slightly and temporarily paralyzed, Jakob saw a chance to make his move. Getting behind the guard with two quick steps, he got hold of the lower part of the man's face with one hand while having the other arm around his neck. He then broke the guard's neck with a hard twist of his arm and a muffled _crunch_.

Quickly taking a glance around to make sure that the alarm had not been raised and nobody had heard or seen the kill, Ghost dragged the dead body into the tent. As he emerged from the tent again, Krystal said to him "Good work! You keep your reflexes very sharp, I must admit!". And he could tell from the tone of her voice that she was smiling. "Now, just continue on to the small grey building in front of you…that's it; nice and easy…and from there, take out the guard and make a beeline towards the door. I know you can…_GHOST!_"

She had seen it coming a split second before it hit him from the trees, as he had taken his first steps out from his cover behind the grey building to finish the guard in front of the door. He did not see it, but he felt it as it slammed into the flesh at his side and lodged itself there. Jakobcried out a sound that lied between a growl and a shout in pain, before he raised his blaster and fired five shots at the guard in front of the door. His sight was a bit blurry from the pain, so the first four shots only hit the guard various places on his limbs, making him whimper a little every time, before the fifth went in clean: It hit him right between the eyes, so that he staggered a bit backwards, a thin line of smoke rising from between his eyes, and then fell limply on his knees and onto the ground. And all this time, Jakob's blaster had said practically nothing and had not flashed so much, thanks to the photon neutralizer that was placed on it.

Ghost dived back into cover of the grey building as the sniper armed with the laser rifle started to open fire on him, and red laser beams whistled through the air and hit the wall with crackling sounds. As he was safe on the other side of the building, Jakob took the time to look at what had hit him: From his side, a metallic crossbow bolt jutted out, now mostly crimson in colour because it was soaked with his blood. It was impossible to estimate how deep the bolt was in his flesh because of all the blood flowing. He could almost see the impulses of pain throbbing out from the wound and through his whole body like red destructive shockwaves. As he saw it close-up, the pain became much worse. "So it _was_ crossbows I saw, then. But why? A laser rifle is much more effective!" he thought to himself.

"_Krystal_!" he rasped out over the radio, not out of irritation or anger, but simply because the pain hindered his talking when it was still so strong. "Take care of that sniper and…". A red flash from her tree followed by the _thud _of a body hitting a solid surface high up in the trees interrupted him, and left him convinced that she had done just that. "Sniper down!" she announced. "I can't see the one who fired at you, but I'm sure he's up there somewhere. Whatever hit you wasn't a laser blast, and the one I just took out used a laser rifle. Hold your position, and whatever you do, _don't move!_ I'm coming down to you.".

"No!" he wheezed hoarsely. "You'll just get hit like I did and then it won't be any better!". "Oh, stuff it Ghost!" she said angrily "I said that you shouldn't go with me onboard the Great Fox, but who insisted on coming along for the ride to keep me safe? You! Now I'm doing the same for you, so don't deny me!".

And then, Krystal flung the sniper rifle resolutely onto her back, jumped a couple of branches down until she was a bit above ground level, then threw herself in a horizontal leap across the tent and landed on the roof of the grey building with a roll to absorb the force of the fall. As she ran across the roof to get to Jakob's side, two crossbow bolts came flying her way, but she made an elegant backward handspring and dodged them, so that they slammed into the concrete of the roof. Finally, she jumped down beside Ghost, who had just started to open fire on the well-hidden sniper with his blaster, firing wildly into the treetops. His energy cell held 90 shots in total, so he had plenty to fire. He ceased fire, ducked back into cover and turned his head when he heard the sound of her jumping down.

"Hello!" Krystal said briskly and brushed her cerulean fringe off of her forehead. Then, she got a closer look at his face; it was paler than usual and the pain had left its marks. He looked tired and weary. "_Oh my God!_ What hit you just before?" she asked in a horrified voice. And she got an answer right away, for Jakob leaned around the corner and continued his suppressive fire at the crossbow-sniper. At the same time, he removed his right arm from his side, which he had covered when Krystal jumped down. The cerulean vixen opened her emerald eyes wide in shock as she saw the crossbow bolt sticking out of his side soaked with blood. A large area on the uniform around the bolt's point of impact had already become crimson instead of green and brown.

A scream from the treetops interrupted her train of thought about the bolt, as Ghost turned around with a weak smile on his face. "I got him, but I can't hit precisely over such a long distance, let alone into the trees, so I think he's just wounded. Now's our chance!". He stuck his blaster in its holster and took a few steps. But then it seemed like his right leg decided to give up on him completely, and he sank down into a half crouching, half lying position, moaning. The bolt had taken its toll on him, for even walking sent intense pain rolling through the right side of his body.

Krystal immediately hurried to where he was, looked down at him and said "We have to get you inside the base. There _must_ be an infirmary somewhere, where we can remove that bolt. Now, get up!". She knelt down, grabbed the wrist of his right arm with her right hand and placed his arm around her neck, still holding his wrist. Then she stood up, dragging Jakob with her by the arm and got him to stand, although he staggered a bit. And then, the two of them walked as fast as they could to the door of the base and went through it, Krystal supporting Jakob with her left arm tightly around his waist so he did not fall. Fortunately, no more bolts followed them.

The scream from the wounded sniper had alerted the six guards in front of the main gate. "Berkley, go and check it out, post-haste!" one of the guards in the watchtowers said to one of the others on the ground. Berkley nodded and began to run away from the main gate. His route went past another grey building which, from what he could see, looked fine on the side that faced towards him, but what he did not know was that death was waiting at the other side of it.

From his cover behind the building, John had peeked his head out to see what the guards were doing, but quickly ducked back into hiding when Berkley started running towards him. "Humans have begun to colonize the Lylat System faster than a fucking plague! Well, time to change that!" he thought, listening closely to the guard's footsteps. When he was almost at the corner, Saber stretched out his left hand and stuck it around the corner. Berkley did not have time to stop, before he smacked right into John's hand, which hit him just above the eyes. The collision was so hard that he flipped backwards, his sight practically blacked out from the sudden blow to the head, and he hit the hard ground with the back of his head first, rendering him effectively unconscious.

John snickered and used the moment of confusion among the guards to ready his blaster and take Ragetooth out from his camouflage-painted bag and throw it onto his back. He kept his ordinary clothes in the bag for now. Then, a shout came from one of the guards in the watchtowers. "Berkley? _Berkley_, what the fuck happened! OH SHIT! All units, aler…".

He did not even have time to complete his call of alert over his radio, before Saber had fried his brain with a very accurate – and very noisy - shot from his blaster. And after half a second, the guard in the other watchtower had suffered the same fate. But because the noise of his shots was so loud, the three remaining guards instantly knew where he was hiding. They switched their laser rifles to auto and unleashed a barrage of laser fire on the corner of the grey building. John ducked back into cover with a short, high-pitched "Woo-hoo!" and started to think about how he should get past them, when he could hear one of their comlinks crackle. A guard answered the call.

"Yeah? Oh, it's you, sir! Yes, we have an intruder. No, no, nothing serious, just a punk with a blaster who thinks he's clever. Me and my squad - or rather, what's left of my squad – have him pinned down. That little prick took out three of them… What? Alright, we won't kill him if you need him alive. And I think it would be a good idea to check up on the Cerinians and see if they know anything about this. But _don't_ sound the alarm, sir! There's no need to put the men over the edge just for this. We'll take care of it…Understood, out!". Saber's heart began to beat faster when he heard the word "Cerinians". So Krystal was right, they were here. He had to admit that telepathy was not so bad after all.

"_You there, behind the building!_ We have you pinned down and there's no chance of escaping. Drop your blaster and come out with your hands above your head!" one of the guards shouted. John recognized his voice as the one who had just talked over the comlink, so he had to be the leader of this little group. And giving up his blaster was fine with him; he did not need it that much anyway. He took his blaster by the butt and hurled it around the corner, so that it landed in the middle of the group of guards, before stepping out himself with his hands above his head. The leader picked up the blaster and joined the two others, so that Saber was now covered by weapons from either side. The leader stepped up and looked at him scathingly through the holes in his balaclava.

"You sure aren't much of a sight. All skin and bones. And a goddamned _sword_ on your back! Man, what're you thinking? I think I'll let you keep that sword just for the fun of it – heck, if I know you punks right it probably isn't sharp - but how you got to be a commando is a mystery to me. Now get moving, skinny!" he taunted John.

In his mind, Saber could not help but chuckle. Because blasters and particle weapons were so common in Lylat, everyone had practically forgotten about melee weapons and their power, seeing them as useless relics from a time long past. And that was how he often got away with carrying a sword when confronted by the enemy. They never thought he could do anything with it. But these guys had just now walked into the trap.

John looked back coolly and replied "And I'll never know how you became a squad leader here. Judging from the look in your eyes, I can tell that you're a downright dumb-ass!". He said this only to provoke the guard, hoping that it would give him the time he needed. And he was right. The guard stood frozen for a couple of seconds, totally paralysed by the fact that such a scrawny and dirty-looking prisoner of war dared to insult him that way. And because of this paralysis, John had all the time he needed to strike.

With the lightning-fast speed of an attacking cobra, he thrust his right leg in the direction of the kneecap of the guard to his right. He hit precisely where he had intended and with the exact amount of force needed, and an unpleasant wet crunching sound followed as the kneecap was broken. The guard started to scream in agony at the top of his voice and fell over on the ground, clutching his broken knee. Not even stopping to catch his breath a little, John turned sharply to his left, grabbed hold of the laser rifle that the guard next to him, also paralysed by the sudden attack just before, was aiming at his head, turned it in his grasp and fired four shots in rapid succession into the man's stomach. He cried out a dying scream, and then his body flopped down and hung limply over the laser rifle, smoke rising from his stomach.

Saber dropped both body and rifle, as he heard the sound of a weapon being raised to his right. Acting purely on reflexes, John bent his body backwards in a fast, Matrix-style dodge, so that he avoided the first laser beams that whistled past over his head from the leader's rifle. When his body was bent as much as it could, he reached a hand over his shoulder and grabbed the hilt of Ragetooth. As he swayed back up, he simultaneously drew the sword from its sheath, and as he stood normally on his two feet, he brought the sword down in a diagonal slash across the leader's body, swinging with all the force he had obtained from going back up. The leader stood and swayed for a moment, blood spurting in a violent, crimson cascade from the giant gash he had just gotten, but then he fell face down on the ground, which was slowly coloured red instead of brown.

Saber bent down and grabbed his blaster that was lying before his feet, aimed uninterestedly – as if he had done this a hundred times before – and sent a shot straight through the head of the guard whose knee he had broken, and who was lying on the ground moaning. He fell silent instantly.

John stuck his blaster in its holster and was just about to put Ragetooth in its sheath again, when he heard running footsteps behind him. Apparently, Berkley had woken up from his unconsciousness and was now running towards him. Saber once again estimated the range of his footsteps, not doing anything, and when Berkley was close enough, he thrust the sword out behind him, only to hear a wet squishing sound and a high-pitched squeal of pain. John turned around and looked at Berkley who was stooping over the sword, as he was impaled by it right through his stomach, the other half of the now red-coloured blade sticking out of his back. He gasped a few dying gasps and looked at John, who returned his stare with a gaze that showed complete mercilessness.

"You've just been John'ed…" he whispered coldly to the dying man, giving the sword another plunge into his stomach "…motherfucker!". And then, he pulled the sword out of the guard's body and held it over his head, whirled around with a warrior's shout to give himself a bit of momentum for the strike "_EEEEYYYYAAAAAARRRRGGGHH!_" and then slashed Ragetooth diagonally downwards through the air, in close proximity to Berkley's neck. Or so it seemed. For nothing happened for a while as Saber held his final position with the tip of the sword pointing diagonally downwards towards the ground, not moving at all as if he were a statue. But then, a thin veil of blood began to trickle down from Berkley's neck and he fell from his stooping position to the ground, lying in a crumpled heap. Saber had simply cut a very fine wound in his neck with the slash, so it took a bit of extra time for the blood to flow and for Berkley to die from having his throat slashed than it normally would. This was a very difficult technique to master, but John had apparently gotten the hang of it.

He looked around at the dead guards, decided that he would find the Cerinians and that what he had done here was just warming up, pulled his clothes out of the bag, changed his outfit inside the grey building and marched determinedly through the main gate of the base, Mikki's rocket still under his clothes.

Meanwhile, the wounded sniper with the crossbow on the platform in the treetops had recuperated from his wound. It was only a blaster shot to the ankle, nothing a couple of painkillers could not handle, but it had unfortunately given the Cerinian and her partner enough time to get into the base. He wondered why the human had not fallen asleep when he was hit with the anaesthetic bolt, and came to the conclusion that the anaesthetic had weakened over time. He had to get some fresh anaesthetic for his new bolts. The sniper activated his comlink and talked into it on the frequency that belonged to his boss.

"Sir, come in, do you read me?" he asked. After a few seconds, a malicious voice appeared on the line. It sounded like its owner was one of those persons who could do anything to everyone and not feel bad about it, no matter how evil or disgusting it was. "Yes, I read you. What's your status?"

"Well, Krystal, the last Cerinian that our prisoners have talked about, finally turned up after all these years, just as you predicted. She had a human partner with her for reasons I don't know; in my opinion it would be more logical for her to have a Lylatian one. I tried to hit both of them with the anaesthetic bolts, but she was too fast for me. I got her partner, though, but he didn't get affected right away, and they escaped into the base. I think the anaesthetic may have weakened since I used the bolts last time.".

There was silence and then the malicious voice came back on the line. It spoke slowly and clearly. "I hope for your sake, captain, that what you say is the truth. Now, listen closely. Go into the base, get some new bolts with fresh anaesthetic on them, find the two, shoot her, and bring her and her partner to me. He's probably very weak when you find them, so don't bother about him. And I know who they are. I would like to take care of them myself, so don't do anything to them. Understood?".

"Orders received and understood, sir. I'll get on it right away!"  
"Oh, and make no mistake about this, captain. If it turns out that you're too slow to shoot that Cerinian again, I promise you that _I _won't be too slow when I embed one of your beloved anaesthetic bolts into your forehead. Is that clear?"  
"Yes, sir!"

"_OH, MAN! GGGGRRRRRRRHHHH! STUPID…CROSSBOW…BOLT! THIS HURTS…LIKE HELL!_"  
"Come on, Ghost, just stay with me for a little while longer. We're almost there!" Krystal said comfortingly to him, as she saw the sign that said "Infirmary" a bit further down the corridor. He took a deep breath and began walking again along with Krystal, who almost had to drag his feet across the floor. As they had gotten into the base and had snooped around a bit for the infirmary, the pain had been growing more and more excruciating, and now Jakob was on the verge of blacking out, also because the heavily sleep-inducing anaesthetic on the bolt had slowly begun to take effect. In fact, Krystal's support with her arm around his waist to keep him steady, the fact that she had "locked" his right arm around her neck, and his own strong determination to deal with this problem _now_ were the only things that kept him from falling to the floor and fainting.

"Here we are!" Krystal said soothingly as she steered Jakob into the sterile interior of the infirmary. "Time to get that nasty bolt out.". She directed him to a low table beside the wall. It was so low that it could be used as a chair and the wall as support for your back. Ghost slumped down onto it with his back against the wall and took a few deep breaths to calm down. Then, he turned his head and looked at Krystal. She was shocked to see how his face had changed: He was even paler than before; now he almost resembled a ghost, at least on the white and pale part. His face was covered by a thin layer of gleaming sweat, and his eye – the one without the vision intensifier blocking the sight of it - had started to get the hazy, vacant expression that you often see shortly before people pass out.

"Well…" he said wearily, a wry smile on his face in spite of the pain "it seems that this is as bad as it gets. Somehow, I always knew that there was some truth in Murphy's Law…". Krystal, whom he had said this to, just looked at him uncomprehendingly, not understanding his illustration. "I'm sorry… Murphy's what?" she asked apologetically. "Murphy's Law, a saying we have back on Earth." Jakob answered.

"The principle or fact that "anything, which can possibly go wrong, will go wrong". It just seems like one of those situations now. I mean, here we are, in the middle of hostile territory, I'm wounded and weak, and you're bewildered about what's happening. That's probably all of the things that can go wrong, and they have. So Murphy's Law is fulfilled!" he finished, taking some more deep breaths to calm down, because the pain had returned after this long explanation. "You _do_ know a lot… partner!" Krystal mumbled to herself, a smile of admiration on her face. But it seemed that Jakob heard it, for he looked at her contently and smiled back in return.

"Thanks, Krystal…" he said weakly "…for this, and for everything you've done for me. Without you, I couldn't have made it this far.". She leant closer to him and stroked his forehead gently a couple of times with her hand, carefully wiping away some of the sweat. "It's nothing, Jakob. Really, it's nothing!" Krystal said honestly as she did it and looked him in the eye. "You've also done so much for me in the past six months since we were teamed up after the Aparoid Invasion – not to mention today - and to support you here when you're wounded is the least I can do to repay you.".

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say!" he smiled. "But if I were you, I would look more after Fox in the future. I _really_ appreciate your concern, but when it comes down to the big picture, I'm expendable. It's Fox you want to keep alive; it's him you're going to build your future with. Do me a favour and remember that.". He looked at her, and she nodded firmly. "You're right. I'll remember it. And I'll never let you die from me, my friend, but in the very event that you do, I'll _never_ forget you. And that's a promise!". Jakob looked at her amazedly; he had not expected her to reply something like that. But a look at his side reminded him of his current situation. "Okay, enough small talk, here we go!"

As he unzipped his camo-uniform, he had to scrape away several sticky layers of coagulated blood that had gathered both on his uniform and in the gap between the camo-uniform and the battledress before seeing the real wound. Because the blood had coagulated, it had sealed itself for now, but he knew that when he started to get the bolt out, it would bleed in cascades. The crossbow bolt was not metallic or crimson anymore, more a rusty brown colour because of the blood that had dried off on it. Krystal was standing beside him, looking attentively, her tail flicking slowly back and forth. "Right. Let's see how deep this sucker goes." he mumbled to himself, before giving the bolt a quick but hard yank.

A wave of immense pain that originated from his side flooded his body and mind, and he collapsed onto the table screaming. After a while, the pain subsided enough for him to sit upright again. "That… fucking bolt has lodged itself… between two of my ribs! I think… that the blade of my knife is long enough… to reach the tip and wrench it free… but it hurts too much!" he gasped. When he had calmed down, he began ripping his camo-uniform to shreds. Krystal said "Maybe I could use an old Cerinian technique…"

"No. No Cerinian mind tricks!" Ghost interrupted her. "It's not that I don't want you to help, but I fear that it'll just be too much for my psyche to handle; it has been weakened by all of this pain already. What you _could_ do, though, is to check for painkillers or anaesthetics. Try that little room next to us!" he said and pointed to a door that led into an adjacent room. She nodded and went into the room, where he could hear her searching through the boxes and bottles that were stashed there.

As she was busy doing this, he drew his knife and laid it ready on the table beside him. He then found a decent-sized piece of his uniform, folded it a couple of times and stuck it in between his teeth. It was a natural reflex to clamp your teeth together when feeling pain. This way, he would not damage his teeth or, even worse, bite his tongue off accidentally.

Krystal returned with a syringe, a bottle of styptic and a bandage. "In the syringe is a local anaesthetic, and it's quite effective, but it only works for a short time, so we have to work fast. I'll just inject it near the wound. That way it should affect the flesh all the way to your ribs, but it'll probably still hurt a bit." she informed him. He nodded and she stuck the needle into the flesh at his side and emptied the transparent liquid into his body. He waited for a few minutes until the prickling feeling that the anaesthetic produced had disappeared, then took his knife and manoeuvred the tip into the small gap between the crossbow bolt and his flesh. Surprisingly, the anaesthetic was very effective, for he felt only a little pain, even as the blood began to flow again as he had predicted.

Several minutes passed, which he used to slowly, but steadily, come closer to the tip of the bolt by carefully pushing the knife along its shaft, further into his body. And fortunately, the blade was long enough. Suddenly, Ghost said a satisfied "Hm!" and explained to Krystal through clenched teeth "I've found the tip. I'll just winkle it out. Hang on…". He made a twisting movement with his knife, growled a bit because it did hurt a little, then slowly pulled the combat-knife out of his side and laid it on the table, its blade all red and bloody. Now, the blood flowed in a lazy stream from his wound, but it seemed that the crossbow bolt hung a bit looser in his flesh.

"Okay, Krystal" he said, breathing heavily again as the pain began to set in; the effects of the local anaesthetic lasted for about five minutes and the operation so far had taken more than that time "be ready with the styptic and the bandage. I'll count to three and pull the bolt out, and then it'll bleed like hell, so we have to stop it quickly." Jakob said, now feeling seriously woozy and dazed by the sleep-inducing anaesthetic on the bolt. His sight had also become blurry because of this, and he knew that something was _definitely_ not right, but he could not say exactly what it was, because he did not know about the anaesthetic..

"One… two… three!" he counted, giving the bolt another hard yank on three. And, as if by magic, the bolt was pulled flawlessly out of his side, leaving a trail of immense pain in its wake. Jakob clamped his teeth together around the layer of uniform fabric and screamed through clenched teeth because of the sudden unpleasant pang of pain in his side. The blood started to flow fast from the wound, and Krystal immediately dabbed it with a cloth soaked with styptic.

After a minute, the flow of blood had stopped, but Ghost was too dazed from the anaesthetic on the bolt to really notice. When Krystal had wrapped the bandage around the wound, he looked at her; his eye was now as vacant as it is when people are under hypnosis. Sleepily, he looked at her hand. She had gotten some bloodstains on her cerulean fur. "So… I was right… then." he said drowsily "Cerinian fur…stained with…crimson…blood…". And he fell, head first, down from the table and onto the floor.

Krystal bent down and tried to wake him up, but to no avail. She was so concentrated that she did not see the first crossbow bolt as it whistled over her shoulder. She lifted her head as she heard it and turned around to look at the sniper from the treetops, who was now standing in the doorway, his crossbow at the ready. She had only just glimpsed his camouflage uniform, the balaclava over his head and his weapon, before the next bolt met with its target: Her shoulder. And this time the anaesthetic was fresh. She also fell to the floor, sleeping instantly, but Jakob's words about Murphy's Law kept ringing in her head, before she was engulfed in sleep: "Anything, which can possibly go wrong, will go wrong"..

While all this was happening, John snuck through the base corridors towards the basement. He had followed Krystal's advice, remained in stealth and had not let his impulses get hold of him, although his right arm involuntarily twitched in the direction of the hilt of his sword, when he crept into the shadows to avoid an enemy patrol that passed by. And because of his patience, he had overheard a patrol that talked about some prisoners in the basement, and how they would go and check up on them soon in connection with the mysterious intruder, who had not been caught yet. Saber smiled a wry smile; he presumed that these prisoners were the Cerinians and now he knew where to find them.

As he rounded a corner in one of the basement corridors, he thought that he felt warmth emanating from Ragetooth. He drew it carefully from its sheath and saw that the runes, which were engraved on the blade, had begun to emit a strong, glowing red light. He had possessed the sword long enough to know that it only did this when a fight was approaching in the near future or it sensed danger nearby. "Patience, my friend, patience!" he whispered to the sword, and gradually the light from the runes died down, until it just looked like a normal katana with runes engraved on it again. He stuck Ragetooth back into its sheath, and then he picked up an angry voice coming from somewhere further down the corridor, around another corner.

It seemed as if a conversation – or perhaps interrogation was a better word – was going on: "…don't know anything about it, 'cause I know that you do! Right!". John snuck closer to the corner, and now he could also hear a frightened voice answer the angry one from before. From what he could judge, it belonged to a young woman, and it talked in a language he did not know. Right after that, the angry voice replied: "Oh, don't give me any of that Cerinian crap! I don't have a translator with me at the moment, so just _speak my fucking language!_ How hard can it be for you misbegotten hairballs to learn it? _Tell me that!_".

Saber now peeked around the corner and down the corridor, from which the voices originated. He could see what looked like a cell a bit further down with a guard standing outside. Right now, he did not stand guard, but was occupied with yelling fiercely at the two inmates in the cell. They were Cerinian, John could see, a male and a female with exactly the same slender build, the same mix of human and vulpine characteristics and the same cerulean fur as Krystal. And, from what he could judge, probably also around the same age, which meant about 20. But they did not look tidy; on the contrary their fur was straggly and dirty, their tails were not big and fluffy but hung limply between their legs, and the garments and jewellery that they were wearing were either torn or smashed to pieces.

In the farthest corner of the cell, the male of the two was sitting lifelessly, but he was still breathing a little. The female, however, stood with her hands clenched tightly around some of the bars in the door and looked pleadingly at the furious guard outside, tears welling up in her emerald eyes. She said a bit more in Cerinian, but the guard was not in a mood to hear her out. He brutally stuck a hand through the bars, grabbed her around the neck in an iron grip, and pulled her face as close to the bars as it could come. Then he clenched his other hand into a fist and struck a crushing blow to her jaw. She did not fall down unconscious. His grip around her neck was too strong. Instead, she turned her head and looked at him again, a little stream of blood running from the corner of her mouth. She tried to say something more, but received three more punches across the face in rapid succession, causing her to bleed more. "Tell me how hard it is to speak my language, you Cerinian whore!" the guard shouted aggressively.

At this point, something inside John's head suddenly snapped. He had had to keep his cool while sneaking around, but now, when confronted by this, he could not keep his impulses from gaining control. With a stone-cold glint in his eyes, he walked to the guard, who let the young Cerinian woman go and turned his head just in time to see Saber's fist slamming into it with all its might. He staggered backwards, disoriented by the pain, only to feel that John was already there when he felt someone grasping a chunk of the balaclava – and also his hair – firmly. Then, with the guard completely in his grasp, John smashed his head violently five times into one of the bars in the door with a crunching sound, shouting "_NEVER… TREAT… WOMEN… LIKE… THAT!_" in unison with each sound of the guard's head being smashed into the bar.

When John estimated him to be properly messed up after this, he gave the guard a powerful push into the wall. After he had collided with it, the man stood completely confused and did not move. That was a big mistake, since Saber drew Ragetooth and threw it at his head like a javelin. A wet _crunch_ followed when it pierced the guard's skull and brain, thus impaling his head and holding him up against the wall. As John went to him and pulled the sword out again, he fell slowly downwards, leaving a trail of blood on the wall as he did so.

Saber cleaned the bloody blade in the dead man's clothes, and then turned to face the female Cerinian who stared at him admiringly. And then she said to him: "Kxudb oei loho misx veh xocfadw mo, jkhudwoh! Nxe uho oei?".  
John stared back at her for a moment, completely dumfounded. He knew that she was talking Cerinian, but he had no chance of knowing that it meant "Thank you very much for helping me, stranger! Who are you?". After he had stared for a while, he slapped himself a couple of times hard on his forehead, as if to punish himself for not bringing one of Slippy's translator devices. This made the young Cerinian step back in fear, and now it seemed that the male of the two awoke from whatever sleep he had been sleeping. He looked coldly at Saber through the bars as he slapped himself on the forehead, but then went back to his lifeless position. The female stepped closer again as John calmed down, and looked at him enquiringly.

"Okay" Saber started, speaking slowly and clearly "I know that you probably don't understand a word of this, but I need to say it to you anyway. My name" he pointed to himself "is Saber. But that's just my code name. I have a real one, and maybe I'll tell you when this is over.". Apparently, the blue-furred vixen behind the bars seemed to understand this perfectly, for she pointed to him and pronounced his name surprisingly well "Saber!" and he nodded. Then, she pointed to herself and said "Erena" and finally to the male who was sitting in the corner: "Qatou"

"Okay. Thanks! Now that we all know each other, I'll say why I'm here. I'm a member of an intergalactic elite military unit, and we've come to get you out of here. In fact, Krystal's with us, if you know her. She was the one who found you in the first place!"  
As John mentioned Krystal's name, Qatou raised his head and looked at him. "Krystal?" he asked, pronouncing the name in a slightly different way than the normal English one. Erena, on the other hand, opened her eyes wide in fear and screamed out "Saber, ceeb eik!"

If John had been able to understand her warning ("Look out!") just a second before he realized what she was saying, he might have avoided what happened to hima second afterwards. As the truth dawned upon him, it was already too late. The butt of a laser rifle landed heavily on the back of his head and he fell to the floor, unconscious. Two guards stepped out of the shadows that engulfed the other end of the corridor, and while one of them stood in front of the door, covering the Cerinians with his laser rifle, the other one went to the dead body of the guard that Saber had killed earlier.

"So that's why Harris didn't report in about his progress with the prisoners!" the soldier mumbled. "I _knew_ something was off!"  
"What about him… and them?" the other guard asked, gesturing towards the unconscious John and the Cerinians in the cell. "Take them all to the boss!" the first guard answered "I'm sure that he would be very pleased to talk a bit with his prisoners… and finally meet the mysterious intruder."


	9. Chapter 8: For Sins Past and Repented

**_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_** This will be the last chapter that you will see from me for about a week, since I'm going away on holiday for that time. I'm leaving you with a rather large cliff hanger at the end of this chapter, I can tell, but you'll have to wait until I get back to see how our heroes will do! So, to summarize: No new chapter for about 8 days, but then I'll be back and upload every 4 days, as usual. I just hope that this chapter - andmy story, in general - will keep you hooked. And, people, _please_ keep those reviews coming! They're so helpful! I hope that you ll enjoy yourselves while I'm away. Well, I think that's it for now. Now, there's only left to say...

_See you in a week (plus maybe two days)!_

**Chapter 8: For Sins Past and Repented ****  
**  
From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log: _SABER THAT SON OF A …! Man, I can't believe that he took one of my rockets! Oh well, he's probably too stupid to know how it works without the bazooka anyway. But it seems that __Ghost and Krystal have run into some trouble.Their pulses have increased for a moment, but now they're gradually slowing down. I can see it right here on the monitor. If something drastic happens, I'm going down there myself to get them out. And then I'll make Saber thank me for the rest of his career here on Team G-Wing! __  
_  
As Jakob woke up from his sleep, everything in his line of sight was blurred and distorted. In front of his face was a white shape, and when he turned his head to the left, he could see a blue shape in front of something brown and grey. Four olive-green shapes were standing at different points in the blurry room. Then, after some time, his vision returned to normal:

He and Krystal had been dragged into a small square room and tied up by their ankles and wrists to a couple of wooden tables. Aside from the golden light that was being emitted from the rather old-fashioned lamp in the ceiling, candles were burning in tall candelabras in every corner. In the middle of the room was another wooden table where all their equipment lay, including Ghost's gloves, trenchcoat, weapons, ammo and Krystal's staff. He was only wearing his battledress now and it was a weird feeling for him not to feel the straps of his weapons around his waist and legs. What he did not feel either was the searing pain in his side from the crossbow bolt, so he presumed that his operation had been successful.

The wound in Krystal's shoulder had received treatment – there was a bandage around it – and she was wearing her normal blue Team Star Fox flight uniform. The walls were grey in colour, but a big part of them was plastered with old documents that had yellowed with age. As he looked closer, he could tell that they were old star maps, but what they were showing was unclear to him.

Krystal began to yawn audibly as she, too, woke up, as if she were back home on the Great Fox and had just gotten out of bed, and that immediately provoked the four guards standing in the room to raise their weapons simultaneously; three of them brandished laser rifles, the last one carried a crossbow. It was he who had shot both Jakob and Krystal. A voice cut through from somewhere above Ghost's head as they started to take aim. "Now, now, my dear guards, let's just give the young vixen a chance to recuperate, shall we? Currently, she's worth much more to me alive than dead!". The thing that struck Jakob about this voice was that, in spite of the soft and friendly tone in which it spoke, there was an underlying hint of malice that could simply not be excluded from the voice. Slowly, Ghost turned his head to see who this voice belonged to.

The face he saw was anything but friendly. It was long, thin and extremely pale, almost as white as chalk, and the skin was lying tightly across the skull and jawbones. Long, greasy hair hung along the sides of the head. It was slightly beige some places, but otherwise a mane of light grey hair. As Jakob tilted his head a bit downwards, he caught a glimpse of the man's hands: White and bony like his face. He was clad in something that looked like a black uniform with a long white lab-coat over it. But the most frightening thing about him was his eyes. The irises were completely blood-red, something that Ghost had never seen before, a sharp contrast to his pupils, which were as black as obsidian.

As he heard Ghost move, the man looked down at him and smiled a menacing smile that Jakob could have lived without. His teeth were all sickeningly yellow and half of them were out of place in his mouth. "Ah, our second little guest has awoken. Welcome, Ghost, as you are commonly known. Or should I say: Commander Jakob?". As his real name was mentioned, Jakob flinched. He looked at Krystal at the other side of the small room, who looked him straight in the eye and shook her head.

The man saw this exchange of looks and said soothingly, albeit still with the perpetual hint of malice in his voice "Oh, you need not worry, commander, Krystal has told me nothing about you. But many others, who are much like her, have. Don't look so scared, my dear!" he laughed, as he saw the very same expression of confusion and terror that had been on Jakob's face seconds ago, now creep onto Krystal's. "If I know who he is, of course I will know who you are, also. Those, who are much like you, have told me many things…".

He paused, staring vacantly into the distance for a second or two, and then he focused on the present situation again. He made a little pirouette on the spot in front of Ghost and Krystal and bowed lightly. If anyone else had done it, it might have looked beautiful, but when it was him, it just looked bizarre.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Hector Rayne, scientist by profession and lunatic by rumour. But you know how rapidly rumour travels, don't you?". He cackled wickedly, but became serious once again. "But before I start to tell you what I have brought you here to tell you, I have a score to settle. Captain!" he said and walked to the guard who carried the crossbow. He immediately stood at attention.

"Yes, sir?" he asked. "Is it true, captain, that when I inspected the infirmary where these two were found, I found one of your crossbow bolts lodged into the wall?" Rayne said interrogatively, leaning forward to look the captain in the eye. "Y-Yes, sir. That's true!" the guard stammered nervously. "And do you remember" Rayne continued, his voice rising "what I said that I would be if you were too slow to shoot the Cerinian with your first bolt?" "Yes, sir. You said that…"

But that was as far as he got in his explanation, for in one swift movement Rayne had snatched the crossbow from his hands and fired a bolt right between the captain's eyes. A squirt of blood, which pulsated out from his forehead, streaked the floor, and the guard followed shortly afterwards, falling face first onto the floor, the bolt sticking out from between his eyes like a crude and bloody antenna.  
"_I_ wouldn't be too slow!" Rayne said in a whisper, finishing the captain's sentence from before and dropping the now useless crossbow next to the body. The three other guards in the room said nothing; they just stood there as lifeless statues. Ghost looked at Krystal, who shuddered.

"Well, I believe that's that!" Rayne said briskly, brushing his hands together with a big smile on his face. "And now, we come to the purpose of your visit. If you would care to look at the star maps over there, can you then see which specific planet I have marked?". Krystal was nearest, and she saw it all too clearly: There, in a quadrant of space that she knew like the back of her hand, a planet coloured slightly blue had been crossed over with a big, red cross. And at the other star maps, that was the same case. Next to the planet was written some incoherent scribble, and that, too, was a feature that all the star maps shared. It could very well be written with the same pen that had made the cross.

The scribble included things like: _Two. Retribution. The end. They say it. Blame and guilt. Abandoned & rejected. Voices. Solace, oh SOLACE!_ And many more words and phrases of the same kind. From the moment when Krystal saw this in connection with the planet she knew and loved, there was no doubt in her mind that Rayne was completely insane.

"Cerinia!" she whispered, and felt the cold gust of horror blow through her mind.  
"Speak up, my dear vixen, because that's quite correct!" Rayne said. He now sat on the table and looked at them; he had scraped some of the equipment away so he could sit there. "Yes, Cerinia it is. The planet that changed my life forever.". He stood up and began to pace slowly around in the room, his face and voice suddenly gloomy.

"You see, many years ago I was a member of the most famous and revered team of scientists in all of Lylat. There was nothing we couldn't do, no mathematical or astronomical problem we couldn't solve, no race we couldn't classify. And we were loved because of this. People from all over the galaxy admired us. DO YOU HEAR ME! ADMIRED!" he shouted out maniacally into the air, as if someone other than his guards and prisoners were listening to him.

"Anyway" he continued "our time of glory lasted for many years… until they chose to dismiss me from my job and my position with them. How… could they fail… to see…" Rayne said in a low voice trembling with anger "that I… was the _HEART_ and _SOUL_ of their shitty little team? I was _FAR MORE_ competent than any of them! I… WAS… THE BEST!" he shouted out in anger again and turned sharply to face Jakob and Krystal, who stared at him perplexedly, shocked by his sudden violent outbursts.

"And their reason for firing me? They called me a lunatic, they said I was insane." Rayne said, a tone of wonder sneaking into his voice, as if he himself still had trouble grasping the truth. "Why? Because I, during our glorious career, had broken the laws of physics and invented a weapon that could protect us against even the sturdiest of foes… ". He paused, smiling dreamily.

"The anti-matter salvoes that you've mounted on your recon fighters?" Jakob interrupted. "Yeah, I've seen them and felt them on my own hull, and I dare say that they're the invention of a man whose mind is warped beyond comparison! Maybe even one who received too many _punches_ to his head as a child!" he said coldly and emphasized "punches" very clearly. He saw Rayne freeze in the middle of a step he was taking, as if he were suddenly paralyzed by some unseen force.

Jakob had tried to keep his rage at bay, but now he could just not hold it anymore, not when confronted by this raving madman. He continued in a provocative voice "Is that the case, huh? Is that it, Rayne? Your parents neglected you, drove you insane, and now you're trying to prove a point by showing you're _so _much better than all of us. And of course you're taking it out on the poor, innocent Cerinians. Rayne, I just want you to know that I agree fully with your former colleagues: You're a complete lunatic!"

The silence after Ghost's sentence was ended by several loud crunching and smacking noises as Rayne let his fists hammer into both sides of Jakob's head numerous times in rapid succession. "SHUT UP, YOU INSOLENT LITTLE WORM! WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF MY FAMILY? THEY WERE _NEVER_… _LIKE_… _THAT!_". Rayne screamed out at the top of his voice in frustration and anger, and ended his sentence with three powerful punches to Ghost's face in unison with his last words, sweat and tears of anger streaming down his face.

He wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve, calmed down a bit and said "But you're right. The anti-matter salvoes were my creation. Imagine never thinking about the strength of their shields, just taking them out with a couple of well-placed shots! Isn't that thought appealing to you, commander?" "Oh, I'm thrilled, can't you tell?" Jakob said ironically, raising his bloody head up a bit to get a better look at his enemy.

"Now, before this little interruption, where was I?" Rayne said, resuming his story. "Ah yes, I had just been fired. I swore to prove to them that I was the best – and the sanest - scientist, so I set out to find a race to study in some scientific aspect, write a paper on it and hand it in to them. I travelled almost everywhere in the galaxy, but I couldn't find a race that was exciting enough for me; almost all of them had already been studied completely. Then one day, I came across a small planet that other people had apparently left alone. And that was indeed Cerinia. I landed there... and then I was in the middle of it "

"The massacre and destruction!" Krystal whispered, the horrible flashbacks dawning upon her once again; not spiritually induced this time around, only her own memories. "My, my, the blue vixen remembers!" Rayne said maliciously. "The Cerinians were screaming and gurgling as their throats were slashed by unseen forces, and big wounds and gashes appeared all over them, their blood coloured the dusty blue ground purple. A red mist or light encompassed everything. It originated from a mountaintop at the far end of the planet. Oh, it pains you to remember!" Rayne said evilly and with a satisfied tone in his voice as Krystal struggled to hold back her tears. He grabbed a notepad from a pocket in his lab-coat. It was already covered with notes, but he added something more with a pen.

"It's an interesting observation for my paper on Cerinians. You see, while I was in the middle of this, I suddenly realized what would be an interesting aspect to study about the Cerinians: Their ability to withstand pain." He smiled sickeningly. "Could they stand more than this and were thus up against an incredible force since they died so fast, or were they weak by nature? I decided to find out. I called out to two of them as they ran past me, and explained with gestures that I had a way of escaping this place. They ran with me, and I flew them here where I had already paid a group of mercenaries to set up a base. You've seen the soldiers when you went in. I believe that it was the two of you who disposed of the destroyer of Cerinia a few months ago, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was!" Krystal said bitterly. Jakob could understand her anger and sadness; it had not been a pleasant fight against the destroyer of Cerinia, which apparently still roamed the barren remains of the planet for seemingly no reason, before the human and Cerinian had finished it off together: A weird humanoid/insect mutant that bore a slight resemblance to The Mothman, which had the power to rip molecules and flesh apart even without touching its victims. Before it did this, it emitted a red mist or light in the area of effect, and that was probably what Rayne had seen encompass almost the entire planet. These memories combined with her grief could not be a good cocktail at all.

Krystal continued. "And we'll soon dispose of _you_, too, you deranged psycho! What kind of sick interest is it to study pain… Aaaahh!" Her sentence ended with a high-pitched scream as Rayne smacked her hard across the face. "Shut UP! Obnoxious vixen!" he said irritably and started walking around again. "Let me continue! When I returned here, I started my experiments along with the leader of the mercenaries, Edward Furey, and we found out a lot of things. And that was when it started. The reason why I had to scribble all that nonsense on the maps. The visions, voices and spirits."

Krystal opened her eyes wide in surprise but said nothing. "I discovered a whole new side of me after my visit to Cerinia,which I never knew had existed" Rayne continued. "I was a medium, gifted to receive the messages of the spirits. But this time, it wouldn't be my gift, but my curse. The spirits of the fallen Cerinians who had seen me started blaming me for not helping them. Night after night, they came to me in the misty layers of my sub-consciousness and tormented me with blame and guilt. And it lasted for years! That was why I scribbled all that on the star maps. I had to get it out!"

Rayne stopped dead in his tracks and turned around towards Krystal. Then, he bent down so that his face was only a few inches away from hers. "But that is not all!" he whispered. "The Cerinians showed me mental images of another one whom they would like to blame for not showing them the respect, which they felt they deserved, when she had returned _right into their midst_ some years later and avenged her planet! But still, the spirits of her late comrades thought that she didn't pay them her respects. She was in a hurry _leaving _again after she had defeated that thing! Sounds like someone you know… _Krystal!_". Rayne kept his voice in a whisper, but he emphasized some of the words strongly.

Krystal did not seem to be affected by this; on the contrary, she looked him defiantly in the eye. But actually, it was true: She had been too shaken emotionally to be on Cerinia for any longer than it was necessary. The staring contest between the cerulean vixen and the scientist lasted for five seconds, and then a thin smile crept onto Rayne's face, as if a truth dawned upon him. "Of course!" he whispered, but then gradually raised his voice as he said the next sentence "You're telepaths! You and your entire race of misbegotten _FURBALLS!_".

He shouted the last part angrily out in her face, and Krystal closed her eyes in shock for a second, but then opened them again and looked at him. Rayne laughed softy. "Oh, don't look at me as if you don't know what I'm talking about. They showed me an exact picture of you in my mind. How could they know who you were, if they hadn't gathered the information from somewhere, say your mind, when you visited them? And I also have a hunch that you're perfectly aware of what I'm saying. Let's see… " he said, stood up and held his hand a few inches from Krystal's head. She squirmed a little, but then gave in.

Rayne smirked. "Yes. That's another gift I've discovered: To see if people have communed with the dead. To many people, the voices of ghosts and spirits may fall upon deaf ears.". He once again walked to Krystal and stuck his face very close to hers. "But the dead, I tell you, are _definitely not silent!_" he hissed angrily, as if it were her fault that he had experienced it all. Jakob could do nothing but to watch passively and keep his cool, slowly feeling the urge to beat Rayne to a pulp welling up inside of him, like it always did when someone insulted or hurt his friends in front of his eyes.

"As the spirits showed me that one Cerinian was still out there, I used my common sense and reckoned that if I kept the other two here, the third and last one would dump right into my lap when she sensed the presence of the others. I knew I would have to wait some months before the spirits could find you and send their message to you, but I'm a patient man. And now, look who's here!" he said triumphantly and poked Krystal on her muzzle. She tried to turn her head away from him, but he just laughed at her and poked her some more.

Suddenly, Jakob raised his voice. "Okay. Let me see if I get this straight. You get expelled from your little scientist group because they deem you to be insane and unreliable – and I truly admire their judgement – and you decide that you'll show them who's the best by examining a race in some scientific aspect and writing a paper on it. You can't find a race that's interesting enough until you stumble across the Cerinians, who, by the time you get there, are being decimated. However, you manage to secure two test subjects and bring them to this base, where you, based on your psychopathic instincts, decide to do a scientific paper on the Cerinians' ability to withstand pain, seeing as they were slaughtered so brutally on their home planet."

"You commence the experiment, or perhaps "torture" is a better word, and everything's going well until your hidden side reveals itself. You can communicate with spirits, and they can communicate with you. The fallen Cerinians blame you for not having rescued them, and they do this for many years, driving you even more insane than you have been earlier, if that's even possible. And you can't see a way out of it, until they tell you that they would like to blame Krystal."

"Your test subjects aren't dead yet, so you decide to use them as bait to lure Krystal here. And you know it'll happen since the spirits now know who she is. After all, they've shown you a picture of her in your mind, and they can only do this via their telepathic abilities that they maintain even in death. They have namely read her mind as she and I were on Cerinia to take out that… thing. Now, you finally have her, and me as a bonus, and I'll bet that you can make your paper even better with observations from _three_ Cerinians instead of two, then kill all of them off so that the race is completely extinct, hand over your paper to your colleagues, become revered again, and, at the end of it all, be granted solace from the Cerinian spirits because you've done their dirty work for them, eliminating the thing that they hated the most: Krystal." he finished, waiting for Rayne to take in this summary of his own, and rather long, story.

Slowly, Rayne turned his head and looked at Ghost with a glint of admiration in his eyes. "Despite all of your less subtle insults of me in what you've just said, I must give you credit. Your mind is very sharp. But can you also figure out what will happen now? I will succeed in accomplishing my plan!"

"Well, it's too bad for you" Jakob said, a wry smile on his face "that solace is only granted for sins past and repented, not for those that you intend to commit! And just a curious question: How did you know who I was when you had brought me here?" "Oh, don't trouble your mind with that. It'll be revealed in due course. But now, Krystal shall be reunited with her people. They've got some things to say to her!" Rayne said, whereupon he walked to Krystal and placed his hand tightly on her forehead. "Now you shall experience the hatred and blame of those whose lives you failed to save!"

"Wakey-wakey, little intruding asshole! I'd like to talk to you while you're still alive!"  
As soon as he heard this being said, he was slapped hard across the face, and John awoke from his unconsciousness with a great shock. He opened his eyes as fast as he could and started gasping for air rapidly. He also felt as if he was flying, his legs hung down limply but did not touch the ground and his arms were suspended in a weird outstretched position, reaching up towards the ceiling. Then, his thoughts became clearer, and he started to look around the room.

As it was the case with Jakob and Krystal, he and the two Cerinians, Erena and Qatou, had also been taken to a small square room, albeit not tied to tables but hanging down from the ceiling in rusty shackles that were clamped tightly around their wrists. The room itself was grey, dismal and without windows. On some parts of the grey walls, red stains of something had splashed up and since dried in to a sticky substance. It did not take long for Saber to recognize it: Blood. In the middle of the room was a small steel table, where John's katana, blaster and Cornerian Medal of Honour were lying, along with Mikki's rocket.

And next to the table stood Edward Furey himself, although John did not know his name yet. He was a sturdily built person, fit and with muscles bulging underneath the black shirt he was wearing along with some camouflage-coloured pants and black boots, broad across the shoulders, and with a rank and bold stature. His face was long and slim, and his cold water-blue eyes seemed to look through the person he was looking at with no problems at all. His hair was short and white as snow, not because he was old, but simply because he liked it that way and had used a dye.

He smiled as John slowly regained consciousness and looked at him. "Hello, Lieutenant John! You know, it's rather foolish to bring your ID with you into hostile territory!" he grinned, waving Saber's G-Wing badge in front of him. "It could fall into the wrong hands… and it certainly has done so now! I'm Edward Furey, a mercenary like you, and leader of the guards here on this base. Throughout my training I have been taught how to use the enemies' weaknesses against them, so that's what I'll do. I suppose that you don't have any idea how demoralizing it is to be stripped of your code name, do you?".

But contrary to what Furey has expected John to answer (something about that he would never get him alive), Saber just looked him straight in the eye and replied merrily "Hello, Furey! Man, what a corny name! "Furey"… and "Fury"! Get it! No, but seriously, dude, I don't mind being stripped of my code name. That just means that my two friends over here will get to know my real one, anyway!". And he gestured with his head to his right towards Erena and Qatou.

Furey watched him in wonder for a moment, and then his face became determined. "Hmph… You certainly know how to use your mouth. But do you know how to adapt to _this?_". And he landed two powerful punches on John's body. The first hit him in the stomach, forcing him to bend his body over to absorb some of the power in the punch, which gave Furey a perfect opportunity to smack him in the face. The power of this second punch sent John spinning, but the shackles that were clamped around his wrists prevented him from spinning too uncontrollably.

As he stood still again, he looked at Furey, spat some blood out of his mouth and said "Shield hits me harder than that when we're training CQC! Is that all you've got, pansy boy?". And then he said as fast as he could, repeating the sentences quickly after each other with the clear intention of provoking his enemy "Are you finished, are you finished, are you finished? _Hey, Furey!_ I'm talking to you! Are you finished, are you finished, are you finish…" This was interrupted by an even more violent series of punches from Furey: Eight brutal punches that were aimed at his kidneys and face. And yet again, Saber did not go down.

After he had stopped spinning like he did before, Furey said "Alright, you should be softened up enough by now. I already know that you're from G-Wing because of your badge, but why did you come here? I think that it would interest the one who hired me a lot. Were you on some kind of mission to save an endangered species?" he laughed, waving his hand carelessly in the direction of the Cerinians. But John just raised his head, looked at Furey with an expression of coolness that could not quite cover up for the pain he did feel, considering that the punches had been very violent, and said "Oh man! Don't make me laugh! You hit like a girl, dude! Mercenary, my ass! Come on, you faggot, tell me you've got some power inside that pumped body of yours!". Furey snickered, and then grabbed Saber tightly around the lower part of his face, his hand closing in a painful iron grip.

"So…" Furey hissed, getting quite ticked off because that cocky prisoner of war would not say a thing "persistent little fucker, aren't you? But there are ways to get you talking. For example this!". The next thing that happened felt very weird when Saber thought about it later. A crackling bolt of reddish energy enveloped Furey's forearm and hand, the one that was clenched around John's face. As the energy came into contact with his skin, he felt it as if his strength and his ability to think clearly were drained or sapped out through his chin and into Furey's hand. He could feel the muscles in his body grow weak and tired, and it was also as if a mist clouded his mind, rendering everything obscure and hazy, both his vision and thoughts, and he could not prevent himself from twitching in spasms. It lasted for some seconds, but then, all of a sudden, the feeling stopped as Furey terminated the flow of energy, removed his hand and left John dangling limply from the shackles, breathing heavily and feeling downright sick and tired.

Through the slight blur that his vision had turned into, he saw Furey send him a wicked grin. "Yes, I forgot to tell you about the anomaly I was born with. I was raised in an area with strong electromagnetic radiation and radioactivity. My native planet was constantly in range of a dying red giant sun, which emitted electromagnetic storms every so often that swept across our planet. Many people and children were affected by this. Their genes mutated and gave them all sorts of weird abilities. To start with, I couldn't control it, this ability to absorb people's strength and vitality. But I learned how to do it as the years passed by. Unfortunately, these genetic freaks were shunned by the normal people at my planet. And I was no exception. So I gathered a group of people that sympathized with me, and we set out as mercenaries. There was nothing better to do."

"Whatever… you say… freak!" John responded weakly, panting heavily. The sapping of his energy had left him even weaker than he had feared. He heard a voice call out to him from his left. "Saber… Uho oei ucc hawxk?" it asked tentatively. He could hear that it was Erena and, judging from the situation, she presumably asked him if he was all right, which was exactly what she did. Qatou answered her softly. "Ted'k nehho. Xo'cc ro vado", which meant: "Don't worry. He'll be fine.".

Furey heaved a deep sigh, looking saturnine. "Oh well, if you won't talk, lieutenant, I'll try your friends over here!" he said and positioned himself between the two Cerinians. John slowly turned his head to watch what happened. "Hello, my little pests!" Furey said with mock joy in his voice as he eyed the two closely. Not caring at all about the fact that they did not understand English, he began to talk to them anyway, at least hoping that it would make some sense.

"I would very much like to know if you have anything to do with the sudden unwanted appearance of this little pathetic intruder over here. Since you're a telepathic race, I wouldn't be surprised if it might be that way. Was it him you called for? Or was it someone else? The other Cerinian that I've just heard has been captured by Rayne, maybe? What do you say, my dear girl?" he said, looking harshly at Erena. She said and did nothing, apart from sending him a gaze filled with extreme hate.

"Nothing. All right, then!" Furey said and turned to Qatou. "What about you, young man?". Although he tried to seem polite and friendly, it was obvious that beneath this surface he was seething with anger, and would not hesitate to take it out on Erena and Qatou. It seemed that Qatou had picked up some small words and phrases by listening to the guards through all these years. And now, he recognized a situation where some of them could be used: When you are pinned down and want to insult the one who is pinning you down, because you do not want to give him the thing he would like to hear. Qatou opened his mouth and said loudly and clearly in English, albeit a bit broken "Fuck… off… bitch!"

That was a bold move, and from that moment on Saber never doubted that Qatou possessed courage. But it was also, unfortunately, just the thing that was needed to tip Furey over the edge of rage. He stared blankly at Qatou for two seconds before smashing his clenched fist into the face of the Cerinian with all the strength that he could gather. Qatou's head jerked violently backwards at the impact of the punch, and something, presumably his jaw or muzzle, broke with a crunching sound. Now it was his turn to dangle limply from the chains, unconscious and bleeding a lot from his face too.

"I'll be amazed if you live to see the next day after I'm done with you, you insolent little prick! You won't tell me anything, anyway, so you're fucking expendable! _DIE!_" Furey shouted in extreme anger, pummelling the body of the unconscious Cerinian furiously with great force in his punches. Erena began to scream in fear, shouting a lot of incoherent things fast in Cerinian. Furey turned towards her, and John at once recognized the distinct flame of madness burning in his eyes. "Do you want to tell me something now, you little whore of a vixen? DO YOU!" he screamed, but it did not look like he would give her a chance to talk.

Around his clenched fists, which were now also red with Qatou's blood, the crackling reddish energy appeared again. As he started to beat Erena to a pulp while simultaneously draining her strength, she began to scream loudly, as she was exposed to theexcrutiating pain. "Oh, come on, speak up! I can't hear what you're saying; I can only hear you screaming!" Furey laughed sadistically, beating away at her.

As he heard that line being said, John's common sense kicked in through the shock and confusion that had befallen him when it had all begun. He swore that he would get his revenge someway. And then, his common sense told him to do something to relieve his newfound Cerinian friends of the pain and anguish they were being put through. Furey wanted a scapegoat, and John was fully aware that it would hurt like hell, but he decided to be that scapegoat.

"Furey!" he shouted. "I came here by myself. I wasn't encouraged by anyone!". It was of course a lie, but Furey had no chance of knowing it. Slowly, he stopped his furious beating and turned away from Erena, who was now drifting between being conscious and unconscious, breathing in small, weak, rasping gasps. Her face and body were a total mess, both covered in blood; her cerulean fur was almost purple some places because of this. She was a really unpleasant sight as she dangled from her shackles.

"What did you say?" Furey asked in disbelief. "I said" Saber repeated calmly "that I came here by myself and wasn't encouraged by anyone. So leave Qatou and Erena out of this; they've got nothing to do with it!". Furey walked over to him, stared him in the eye and laughed. "Well, well, well, the lone wolf, eh? The lone wolf who took out seven of my men!" he said angrily. "Alright, I'll leave them out of this… for now. Even if they've got nothing to do with it, I still need to experiment on their ability to withstand pain. It's actually an excellent way to do the job that you've been paid to do while extracting information at the same time. So, you say that you weren't encouraged by anyone? You had just heard a rumour about some missing Cerinians and decided to investigate it?" Furey asked curiously.

John thought about this for a while. Furey had perhaps sensed that he lied, so if he could just find a way to piss Furey off while still remaining in his lie, before receiving his punishment, it would fit his ideals of going out in style. John looked calmly at him and said "Well, maybe one thing _did_ drive me: The hunch that I had when I heard the rumour: That it would probably be a sadistic psychopathic jackass like you who would be responsible for it! Come on! Punish me for your lost men! Punish me for what I've said… if you can, you jerk-off!"

And Furey surely could, for one second after he had ended his insult, Saber was in a world of hurt. Furey was acting purely on impulses and instincts, his punches raining down on John. Each time they collided, they sent a wave of pain through his body because the man used all the strength he could. But an ominous crackling sound could also be heard, and along with that, John felt his own strength and energy waning. Furey used his powers and sapped him of all his vitality.

Seconds before he blacked out, when he felt it as if his body were a weak lump of flesh that hurt everywhere like it had been through an enormous wringer, John heard a door open – Furey had apparently called for some guards – and then Furey's voice. "Let the Cerinians hang, they're still useful to me. But that weak, pathetic human over there is done for. He won't survive for long. Take him to the room, but leave his equipment here. I would like to examine it. And I think I'll keep his medal as a little souvenir. We'll dispose of the rest of it tomorrow along with his dead body!". And then, the darkness engulfed him.

As Rayne's hand closed around her forehead, Krystal looked at him with confusion in her eyes at first. But then, it was replaced with horror and sorrow a few minutes after, before she closed her eyes and started to squirm and shudder on the table in his grasp, crying heartrendingly and muttering some things in Cerinian that Jakob could not understand. Tears trickled down her face and formed a small river on her face as they kept coming.

Rayne did not seem to feel bad about this at all. On the contrary, he smiled maliciously as he saw her reaction. "Good girl… just like that!" he whispered. "Accept their blame and release me from this torment!". Krystal just squirmed some more, causing Rayne to smile even wider. Finally, she went completely limp and gasped for air as he removed his hand from her forehead. "That… was horrible… you psychopath!" she said, interrupted by her rapid gasps for air. Rayne just looked down at her pityingly. "Well, of course it was horrible. Isn't it always horrible to raise the dead?" he said, as if it was no big deal. Before he went to where Ghost was lying, he turned his head towards his three guards. "You may leave us! I can handle these two. There's no way that they can escape!" he said, and the men saluted and went out of the room.

Rayne turned his attention to Jakob again. "Now, commander, you wanted to know how I knew your name without having looked in your badge or heard it from Krystal? It's pretty simple, really. Just as you are now, it seems that the two of you are always in the same boat, in the exact same place at the same time, always together. Now, I wonder why that is?" "Well, that's also pretty simple, Rayne. We're partners and friends, military comrades that are sent out on missions toge… ". Ghost paused for a moment as the obvious truth struck him. "Of course! Cerinia!" he whispered.

"Very good! Along with the images of Krystal, I also received images of and information about you. Yes, the spirits have read your mind. And they blame you, too, Ghost!" Rayne said matter-of-factly. "They don't distinguish between races or gender. Anyone who visits their planet and does not show the dead some respect is a target for their hate and blame. I believe you were too busy escorting _Krystal_ out of there?" Rayne asked mockingly, to which Jakob nodded shamefully, for now he wished that he had stopped and paid his respects to the dead.

"Well, you'll have time to repent your sins now and find solace, for as you said before, solace is only granted for the sins you repent." Rayne said, closing his hand around Jakob's forehead. As everything in the room around him became a blur and then darkness,Ghost felt it as if he were falling through an endless void, directly towards something horrible and unknown. As he had just completed that thought, a weak blue-grey light began to shine around him, and he stood in the middle of something that he recognized all too well from a couple of moths back.

The flat and dusty Cerinian plains lay before him once again. To his sides were some decrepit ruins that had once been magnificent, but were now nothing but piles of rubble. In the background, tall mountains were reaching up into the sky that looked like it had been torn right through the middle, for a gash of blackness separated the grey clouds, and the sky revolved slowly above his head like a giant upside-down maelstrom.

But everything did not seem solid; on the contrary it was spectral and insubstantial. The only colours that were here were grey, light blue, black and white. One could easily make out the outline of other things through the mountains, the ruins and the horde of ghostly Cerinians that had marched out of the ruins and stood in a straight line in front of Jakob. There were both men and women, they were all a mix of a human and vulpine appearance, just like Krystal, and the look in their spectral eyes was full of sorrow and hate. But the creepiest thing was that their wounds were still there: Deep gashes in their fur and skin, from which immaterial, ghostly blood still flowed or pulsated out in irregular squirts.

The one that stood nearest to him stepped closer; it was a vixen like Krystal, but she looked older, perhaps in her thirties. She could have been beautiful, had it not been for the large gash across her neck that drew a clear line between her head and the rest of her body, blood trickling from it in a slow stream. She pointed her finger at him and said something in Cerinian. But he was not left confused as to its meaning; instead, it was instantly translated in his mind, as if he knew the language by heart.

"You damned heretic!" she said "Is that a proper way to behave? Descending onto the planet of a dead race, completely emotionless, taking care of a few problems and then walking away again without giving the dead even the slightest thought? We were brutally murdered. It was a massacre! And all you can think about are the lives of yourself and that other misbegotten Cerinian that you drag around with you. Pretty egocentric when you're standing on a planet where its entire population was wiped out, except the three who managed to save their own filthy hides! Remember my words as you receive your proper punishment in the afterlife. But I might just ease the punisher's work!". And then, she stepped as close as she could to him, so that her spectral muzzle almost touched his nose – and went through him.

As the cold, ethereal ectoplasm came into contact with the skin of his mentally projected self, melted into his body and came out again on the other side, Jakob felt it as though his blood turned to ice in his veins and his heart stopped beating for two seconds – then the spirit emerged on the other side of his body. He was left gasping for air because of the sudden paralysis, but then another Cerinian spirit – this time a man with deep wounds in his upper body – stepped forth, said "Insolent human! Doesn't care about anyone other than himself! Well, I'll make you care!" and went through him in the same fashion as the female spirit had just done. And again, Ghost was cold and paralysed as it happened, leaving him gasping even more for air than he had done the first time.

This lasted for several minutes. Each spirit had something to blame him for, before they went through him and paralysed him. And the more times they went through him, Jakob felt more and more dazed and woozy, as if he were infected with tiredness from each spirit. But as his sight had become basically nothing more than a blur, he felt as if he was floating upwards through a dark sea, the Cerinian plains vanishing below him, and found himself panting heavily back in the little square room with Rayne and Krystal, still tied to the table, the cold sweat of fear and anxiety running down his face. As Krystal saw him in this fashion, she could not help but eye him withconsiderable concern in her emerald eyes. Ghost was very tired and weary from the experience, and asked Rayne in a horrified voice "What happened?"

"I forced your mental self to meet with the spirits of Cerinia" Rayne answered "You might feel a little sick by now, but that's just because they've drained your life force by floating through you." "How the devil can you be so sure of that?" Jakob returned. "Don't you think that I know how it feels or what they do? Don't you think they've dome the same to me? _YOU_ _IGNORANT LITTLE…!_" Rayne screamed madly, but was interrupted by Krystal, who suddenly swore in Cerinian. "Visbruw!" she said.

It was undoubtedly directed at Rayne, but to his amazement, Ghost understood it, just as he had done with what the spirits had said to him. He started to chuckle softly. "Fuckbag?" he said, laughing louder. "Did you just call him "fuckbag"?" he asked and looked at Krystal. "Yes!" she answered from her table, and then they both laughed aloud. Rayne turned around, anger blazing in his eyes. "How dare you speak to me like that, you filthy vixen! And how come you can understand it?" he said, pointing at Jakob.

He held this position for two seconds, and then he realised what had happened. "Yes. Now I see it. The spirits must have transferred some of their abilities to you by accident, including the ability to understand their language. Damn them! Let me tell you this: I don't know how it happens, but I know that you'll…". Whatever Rayne had planned for them as he continued his monologue would forever remain unknown to Jakob, for as Rayne continued speaking, he turned his back to them and began wandering around a little without looking at them, fully convinced that they were listening to him. As he saw it, they had nothing better to do.

Seeing this as the perfect opportunity when Rayne was caught in the moment, blabbering on about his mental science, Krystal used this sudden moment of peace to look at Ghost and silently mouth the words: "Krazoa. Out of mind.". Then, she closed her eyes and relaxed completely. Jakob tried feverishly to remember in short what Krystal had said about the "Out of Mind"-technique: Focus on the impulses or pictures of what you would like to find, and then unleash your mind. Ghost recalled some memories of what he had learned about the Krazoa, their shape and their domicile, Krazoa Palace, on Sauria.

When he thought that the recollection of memories and pictures was strong enough, he closed his eyes, emptied his head of all other thoughts except the memories, relaxed in his body and concentrated on the memories with all his might. Instantly, his conscious self was drifting away from his body, through the universe and landed in Krazoa Palace on Sauria. He felt none of this; he saw only darkness. Then, the darkness lifted, and he saw Krystal standing next to him, but she appeared to be ghostly and insubstantial, just as he felt himself.

They were standing in a large room, which was completely square. The walls were covered with gold plating, which was engraved with patterns and markings of ancient times, and reflected the light of the torches that were positioned at different places around the room, thus bathing their surroundings in a soft, golden light. The floor was made out of jet-black stone, a nice contrast to the golden walls. And in front of them, a Krazoa spirit hovered. The long head, which looked slightly like an Egyptian mask for pharaohs when they were mummified, was distinguishable in the translucent haze of blue and purple that made up its body. Eight sleek ghostly tentacles, also blue and purple, dangled from it.

Krystal knelt down in front of the Krazoa, while gesturing for Jakob to do the same. He had no idea about how to behave when one's conscious and mental self was sent out of one's body to communicate with an ancient, magical spirit, so he decided to follow Krystal's lead. He knelt down as well. The Krazoa did absolutely nothing for five seconds. Then, it stuck out one of its insubstantial tentacles and plunged it through Ghost's head. It was not uncomfortable, just a bit warm and prickling.

After four seconds, it pulled the tentacle out, and then its voice resonated in his head, and undoubtedly also in Krystal's, as he realized that it could not talk to them ordinarily, only communicate by telepathic means. Jakob surely hoped that it could understand what he said with his mouth; he had no telepathic abilities. It spoke in English, perfectly clear, and not in Cerinian or Saurian as Ghost had thought.

_"I have scanned your memory – that is why I speak your language - but I do not know you, young one. Why have you come to me?"_ it asked in his mind with its sonorous voice. "Greetings, noble Krazoa, and honour to you!" Jakob greeted the spirit, still kneeling. "I – my substantial self, that is – am in peril, and so is she." he gestured towards Krystal. "We're being held prisoners - presumably along with a couple of other Cerinians - by an insane scientist, who has an ambition of examining a Cerinian's ability to withstand pain in every detail. Then, he'll give this observation to his former colleagues who expelled him from their group because they deemed him unreliable and crazy, and become revered and famous again. That's the short version of it. I would like to explain it to you in detail, but I fear that we don't have the time. I beseech thee, mighty Krazoa, please help us!" he ended, bowing his head respectfully.

There was silence, as if the Krazoa contemplated this for a while. And when it answered in his mind, it seemed that it had understood Jakob's oral explanation perfectly. _"Let me see, now. If it is as you claim, is there then a possibility that this scientist will eliminate the Cerinians once he is done with them?"_ "I've given this some thought myself, and I think that it may very well be that way." Jakob said.

The Krazoa looked at him some more before replying. _"I see no lies in your mind, young one. I believe you. Which is why we must act quickly. I will send you back to the Material Plane in a little while, and from there I will help you break the bonds that restrain you. If we lose the faithful keeper of our power"_ its spectral eyes turned to look at Krystal _"then all hope will fade. We will never be able to use our powers, and we will diminish and die. But as I said, I will help you break free… and we will come to your aid if you require it of us, keeper. We almost lost you one and a half years ago on this very planet, and we do not intent to lose you again!"_ it said benignly to Krystal.

She nodded. "I know. And I will survive! I'll never let you down, my spirit friends." she said. To this, it seemed as if the Krazoa also nodded slightly before waving one of its tentacles right through them. They fell back through the darkness, and the Krazoa's last words sounded in their minds. _"Farewell, faithful keeper! Farewell, young one!"_. And then, their eyes slid open simultaneously back in the small room on the base.

"…and that's why you'll never succeed!" Rayne finished his rather long monologue and turned towards them again. Jakob knew that a mere stroke of luck had prevented him from turning around while they were still out of their minds. And as far as Jakob could judge, Rayne would not take kindly to prisoners who seemed as if they were sound asleep in the middle of his taunting them. But Ghost also had the feeling that he would not take kindly to prisoners who had not heard the long and demoralizing speech he had just given.

But apparently, Krystal did not care about that. "I'm sorry, Rayne, what did you say?" she asked apologetically. "I think I just tuned out of my mind for a second! So, what were you saying?"  
His punches, fuelled by anger and madness, hit her harder and faster than she had expected.

The thing that woke him was the pain. Ironically, it was the same thing that had made him black out in the first place, but he did not care about that now. All he could think about was the pain that throbbed through his entire body and seemed to destroy every molecule he possessed. With several loud groans, John began to move his limbs, which were both numb and aching at the same time. When he had made sure that none of them were broken, although they all hurt unbelievably much, he let a hand slide across his face.

He felt it as if he had been given a mask to wear while he was unconscious. It was hard but also sticky, and adhered closely to his face. Then it hit him: It was blood. Blood from the violent pounding that had coagulated on his face. He laid a hand on his head to reassure himself that his cap was still there, and then he got a great shock as he grasped hold of his own hair. For a moment, the shock was too strong and he thought that Furey had kept it for himself, just like he had done with his Cornerian Medal of Honour.

But then, John's common sense kicked in yet again, telling him to search the room he was in, so he could at least find out where he was, and work something out from there. Slowly and wobbly, he got up, though his body still ached terribly, and squinted his eyes to look around in the room, which was almost completely dark; the only light there was seeped in through the small slit between the lower part of the door and the floor.

The first thing he noticed was that he was standing on something soft and squishy. As his eyes began to adapt themselves to the darkness, he saw that he was standing on an almost completely crushed body. Almost every bone had been pulverized. But that was not the only body. The room was a sort of storage for deceased victims of torture, it seemed, for the floor was littered with them, thus making another floor of corpses to walk on. Some of them had decayed fully, most of them were still in the process, and others – the rarest – were relatively fresh. And all of them had some sort of bodily anomaly on them that could only be caused by torture: Some seemed to have been burned, others had been cut up, and others again had had their limbs broken or disfigured.

From what he could tell, most of them were Lylattians. Anthropomorphic animals of a variety of species: Cats, dogs, wolves, foxes, tigers, almost anything. He believed himself to be one of the first humans there, and he could also reason from the clothes that the bodies wore, that they were either adventurers that had gone off on the wrong track, or mercenaries sent to check out the rumours about this mysterious base.

As he looked around, he saw his cap. It was squeezed in between two corpses: A young lion with deep cuts in his upper body and a tiger that had been slowly burned to death. He stepped across some of the other corpses and picked it up, brushed it with his sleeve a few times and put it back on his head. He took a couple of steps backwards and then raised his hand to the side of his head in a respectful salute. "I'm sorry, guys." he mumbled. "I didn't know that so many of you had died. And I can't do a thing about it. Damn Furey! _Damn him! _I'm sorry, dudes!" he said again in a low voice.

His attention was immediately focused on something else than the dead Lylatians or his physical pain, as he heard footsteps approaching the door. Despite the immense pain that welled up in his body, he started to run towards the door. When it was opened, the brief glimpse of the figure of a guard was all he needed to turn the odds in his favour.

He flung himself out from the darkness with a good amount of force from the run-up and swung his left leg around in a powerful sweeping kick. It hit the guard directly in his solar plexus, and all the wind was knocked out of him with a wheezing sound. He bent forwards to clutch his stomach, directed by natural reflexes. But as he did that, Saber saw the perfect opportunity to knee him three times hard in the head, each time causing a loud scream and a thumping sound, and finally one time in the groin, which made the guard collapse instantly onto the ground, completely knocked out by the pain.

"I don't think that you'll recuperate from this, you prick… _ever!_" John said, before placing his foot upon the man's neck and slowly, but steadily, increasing the pressure he put on it, until the neck simply broke with a snap like a dry twig in the forest. Saber reached down and took the radio at the guard's hip before throwing the body into the room with the others and closing the door.

As he gradually calmed down and the adrenaline stopped flowing, the pain from his torture also returned. He had tried to keep it at bay and shut it out, but now it overwhelmed him. Gritting his teeth and growling to himself, he began to walk down the hallway, which he knew would lead to Furey's basement chamber, although he was staggering slightly sometimes. As he went, he pressed the communication button on the comlink. A moment later, Furey's voice appeared on the other end. From what John could hear, Erena was crying desperately and inconsolably in the background, while Qatou tried to comfort her by muttering some things to her in Cerinian in an unsteady voice. These sounds just make the anger inside Saber blossom like an unhealthy, black and thorny flower. "Yes, soldier, report in. Did you find anything in the corpse room?". John waited a moment before replying in a hoarse, calm voice.

"Hey there, cockboy! It's Saber. Saber from G-Wing, you little whining bitch! Well, actually it's John, but that doesn't really make such a big difference. Do you want me to beat the living crap out of you or cut you to pieces with my sword, you little bastard? Would you like that? I bet you wouldn't, but I'm coming to do it anyway, because now I've simply had it with your "torturing the Cerinians for fun"-crap. Have a nice life… or what's left of it!". And then, Saber terminated the connection and continued walking through the hallway, almost not paying any attention to the pain at all, and not caring about the fact that he was completely unarmed: His determination was much stronger.

"_ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!_" Mikki shouted, rotating his seat violently around to face Fox, Peppy, Falco and Slippy, who had just simply stood at the bridge for the past few hours and watched the drastic alterations in Jakob, John and Krystal's vital signs that had occurred in connection with both the physical and mental torture that they had been put through down on Orakar 5. The reason for Shield's exclamation was that John's pulse had just risen a few minutes ago from practically nothing to about normal, while Jakob's and Krystal's pulse rates were fluctuating. Mikki was no doctor by profession, but he knew enough about it to know that such alterations in the vital signs were not normal. "I'm going down there!" he said determinedly to Fox.

Fox looked at him with horror painted across his face. "Shield, are you sure that it's the right thing to do?" "Hell yes, it is!" he replied strongly. "They're my friends! And they're obviously being put through a lot of shit down there! As you said, Slippy, before the invasion of the Aparoid home world: I'm going and you can't stop me.". And then, he marched resolutely away from the bridge to the armoury, the others following in his wake.

"But, Shield, be reasonable!" Peppy said pleadingly, as Mikki put on his heavy combat vest and strapped some Cornerian hand grenades to it. "If you get captured, tortured and killed down there, too, or whatever it is that's happening to the others, Team Star Fox is back at where we were after Sauria, _minus one!_ Krystal! Not only will we have lost Team G-Wing, which has now become an indispensable part of us, the Star Fox Team will also be one member short. I'm sorry to say it to you so bluntly, but… the others are casualties of war now. Let them go!" the old hare said softly, but one could also see that it was hard for Peppy to grasp that thought, for tears started to well up in his eyes.

"Casualties of war, my butt!" Shield said angrily, smacking the energy cell of his Cornerian plasma Gatling gun into place before placing the weapon at his side. He then grabbed his rocket launcher and flung it onto his back while mumbling to himself "Damn! Only one rocket. Saber, you asshole!". He turned his attention to Peppy and the rest of the team again, as he prepared to walk to his Arwing. "Guys, it's not that I don't understand what you mean, and I'm sorry for yelling at you before, Peppy, but you guys have taught me this, remember? I became a sergeant of the Cornerian Army, and therefore I have a responsibility to protect those in need of help. That's the least I can do. That's my duty as a sergeant! Sure, if they're dead it's tragic, but if they're still breathing just a little, that's enough for me. I'll get them out. I'll fulfil my duty. And I won't fail you, or them. _Ever!_".

And with these words, he walked off to his Arwing while Team Star Fox stared amazedly after him. He would get them out. He would fulfil his duty as a sergeant. Even if he lost his life in the process.


	10. Chapter 9: Nothing More Sinister

**Chapter 9: Nothing More Sinister ****  
**  
_(No logs from Team G-Wing available due to absence of the entire team from the Great Fox) __  
_  
"Now, my dear vixen, I think you have learned your lesson!" Rayne said as he stepped back from Krystal, whom he had beaten for five minutes straight. The cerulean vixen groaned in pain and looked at him through eyes that were swollen because of the punches that had hit her there. As Jakob looked at her, he could barely recognize her. Her face was completely bloody; there were only a few places where the blue and white fur was still clean, like the sky on a sunny day with a thin layer of clouds. She maintained her hateful stare for some seconds, and then she went completely limp, closed her eyes and relaxed every single muscle in her body with a deep sigh; she was imply too exhausted to do anything.

Jakob swelled with rage as he saw it, and he turned his head and looked at Rayne before saying slowly and clearly "You… are a deeply insane and deranged person, Rayne! Do you know that?" "Oh, yes I do. After all, you're not the first one to remind me." Rayne said uninterestedly. "But what I also know now is that Cerinians can take quite a large amount of continuous pain, even to their vital areas. That's an interesting observation!". He raised his hand, which had now turned red because it was covered with Krystal's blood, and licked some of the blood off slowly and tentatively.

"Hmm… And Cerinian blood actually tastes pretty good! Bonus fact for my paper!" he said menacingly, grabbed his notepad from the pocket in his lab-coat and started pacing around the room again, scribbling furiously. Ghost took the time to look at Krystal. She did not move an inch. He just hoped that she was not… no, he would not even allow himself to think that thought. "So, commander, what do we do now?" Rayne asked as he turned to face Jakob again after he had scribbled the last things down. "I have practically got everything I need now, so I think we can say goodby… _WHAT!_"

The reason for his exclamation filled with horror and disbelief was the purple light that had suddenly appeared around the ropes that held Jakob and Krystal tied to the tables. It lasted for about two seconds and then it vanished, but by that time it had also reduced the ropes to nothing more than dust. The Krazoa had kept its promise. Rayne's eyes went wide in surprise as the truth dawned upon him: They were free.

"No! _NO!_ It can't be! GUAR…" The shout for his guards was interrupted by a _crunch_ before it left his lips completely, because Ghost had swung his right leg in a semicircular movement, making his foot collide with Rayne's temple with profound force. The man staggered backwards a bit, turning uncontrollably around in circles, before falling forwards with his head first. Unfortunately for him, the wooden table with the equipment stood close to him, so he smashed his face and the upper part of the body into the table top. After that, he slid slowly to the floor, completely unconscious.

Jakob got up and started massaging his wrists and his ankles to get the blood flowing again. He looked at Rayne's unconscious body. "Maybe that'll knock some sense into you!" he mumbled, before he reached down, grabbed Rayne's notepad and tore it to pieces. He also tore a piece of his lab-coat. Then he walked to the table where Krystal was lying. Her eyes were closed and it was impossible to see if she was breathing. He stood beside her, grabbed hold of her wrist, and shook her arm. "Krystal? Krystal, can you hear me?" he asked and shook her some more. She remained completely lifeless.

Ghost suddenly got a horrible flashback to the day on Sauria, when she had been shot by Von Ernst and been on the verge of dying. He started to become desperate and talk faster, cleaning the blood off of her face with the piece from Rayne's lab-coat, so that she eventually looked like herself again. "No. Krystal, don't do this to me again! We were lucky that you could be saved the last time, but I doubt that luck will last. Oh, come on, wake up! _ANSWER ME!_" he screamed and was about to burst into tears, not only because he was sad, but also because he did not want to tell Fox the sad news that the love of his life had been murdered by an insane, sadistic scientist.

As he felt something warm and furry closing around his wrist, he looked down and heaved a deep sigh of relief as he saw Krystal's hand closed tightly and comfortingly around his wrist. He looked at her face and saw her smiling at him with her turquoise, almost emerald, eyes open and full of life. "Hello Jakob!" she said weakly, before she reached up and let her fingers slide down his face. "Just wanted to check that you were the real Ghost, and not a ghost in the afterlife!" she smiled. He was too glad to say something in return; he just beamed down at her. Finally he said "I'm just happy that I don't have to experience Sauria all over again!" to which she nodded. "Okay. Let's get you on your feet!" he said and held a hand out to support her, as he expected her to be a bit dazed from the beatings still. "_Not… so… fast!_" a low voice hissed angrily from behind them.

They turned their heads and looked. Rayne had somehow managed to get to his feet, and now he stood and swayed a bit back and forth. The right side of his head was bloody where Jakob had hit him with his kick, and the expression in his eyes seemed to be a bit hazy. He pointed at Ghost with one hand and held the pieces of his notepad in the other. "You! _YOU_ sabotaged my life's work!" he screamed insanely, throwing the now useless pieces of paper over his shoulder. "And _YOU_ kicked me in the head! I saw your foot before I blacked out! It was the pain of the _CERINIANS_ that was to be measured, not _MINE!_" he shouted in a wronged tone, as if he had been treated unfairly.

Jakob's face became stern. "Right!" he mumbled. "Krystal, can you fight?" "No, not right now. I'm still too woozy from the beatings." she said apologetically. "Alright. I'm just sorry that you won't take part in cleansing the universe of yet another scumbag!" he said to her, walking forward carefully and stopping a bit away from Rayne. He entered his traditional CQC-position with his arms stretched a bit out in front of his body and his hands clenched into fists. Jakob spread his legs a little to get a better foothold, and made a beckoning gesture to Rayne with his left hand. "Come. I'll end your insanity!" he said quietly.

This provoked an unarticulated shout from Rayne, who rushed at him and swung his fists at his head and stomach in a fierce combo. Ghost blocked both punches, grabbed hold of Rayne's arm as the second one had been blocked, whirled around while twisting the arm with him, and let go of Rayne as he was in the middle of the whirling motion. Rayne had not expected this, so he was thrown off his feet, crashed into the wall and fell to the floor. He got up and wiped his face, which had now become bloody, with the sleeve of his lab-coat. "So... we fight for our precious little lives, do we?" he hissed. "And no, I don't want you ending my insanity. I've learned to live with it, and it's quite good!".

And he threw himself at Jakob again, starting out with a vicious spin kick that Ghost did not have time to block before it hit him in the stomach. He staggered backwards, gasping for air while desperately trying to block the punches that Rayne attacked with. But his opponent had a strategy: While Ghost was occupied with blocking his attacks, Rayne stuck his foot in behind Jakob's legs and toppled him over with a foot sweep. Ghost gave a shout of surprise as his legs were swept away below him and he hit the floor with a loud noise and a sharp pain in his back, right next to the table with equipment. A moment later, Rayne was over him, standing with one leg on each side of him and hammering away at Ghost's face with his fists.

"Die… now! _DIE!_" he shouted maniacally and beat away. Jakob could feel how the pain began to cloud his mind as the punches slammed against his skull from either side, but in one last moment of clear thoughts he reached up and grabbed Rayne's right hand as it was coming in to beat him. The two of them struggled for some seconds, and suddenly Jakob gave the hand and Rayne's forearm a hard jerk upwards while giving the arm a chop with his other hand, which resulted in the forearm breaking with a wet, crunching sound. Rayne's eyes seemed to bulge out of his head as he felt the pain, and he backed away towards the table while screaming at the top of his lungs in fear and agony, all the time clutching his now disfigured forearm.

Ghost got up and went resolutely towards Rayne, and as he tried to dodge and run away, Jakob anticipated his moves and hit him in the head and the stomach withthree swift punches. "It's... for... Krystal!" he hissed vengefully in unison with his punches connecting with Rayne,s body. The punch to the stomach made Rayne bend forwards, and Jakob saw this as a perfect opportunity to jump up and deliver a powerful roundhouse kick straight to his face. Rayne was knocked backwards by the impact of the kick and slammed his back against the edge of the table, making him scream even more. As he was hanging there on the edge of the table, looking around him with fear in his eyes, Ghost brought his outstretched right hand down on his neck, which he had a clear view to, like a hammer of justice in a court room. He hit with a lot of force, and he could hear the faint squishing sound of nerves and tendons breaking and being severed inside the neck. Rayne gurgled desperately a few times, and then he once again slid from the table and onto the floor.

Jakob turned around to see how Krystal was doing. She was apparently doing fine, for she now stood up and waved at him. He returned the wave and turned around again, only to see Rayne's fist slamming into his face. It hit just where it should. His vision blacked out (for a moment he was desperate; he was sure that his vision intensifier was smashed, but it was not) and he fell to the floor, feeling seriously woozy after the perfectly aimed punch. As his vision returned, he felt some bony hands grab hold of his neck, squeezing violently, and he saw Rayne standing above him, smiling a smile which was a mixture of malice and insanity. Ghost could not grasp how he had survived the blow to the neck; it was meant to be a killing blow.

"I'm deeply sorry, commander" Rayne said with a voice that was completely unrecognizable from his previous one, this one being a hoarse gurgling whisper; Jakob presumed that it was because he had damaged his vocal cords and the tissue around them severely "but you seemed to hit the wrong spot. Sure, it hurts like hell, but at least I'll get the pleasure of killing you, the root of all my pain! Now, _DIE!_". Before his vision began to blur, Ghost could see that Rayne's neck was twisted a bit, and had a large red accumulation of blood where the blow had hit him. Rayne tightened his squeeze, and Jakob could soon after not do a thing. He gasped desperately for air, but none came. The darkness seemed to engulf him…

But then, from somewhere far away, he could hear the characteristic wet and crunching sound of bones and flesh being crushed or torn apart by something that plunges into it with a great deal of force, and right after that, Rayne's scream of pain sounded in his ears as he let go of his neck. Jakob took a big lungful of air three times, and then his vision returned:

Rayne was whimpering now, clutching something golden and pointy that had just erupted from his chest, soaked with blood. Ghost recognized it as the head of Krystal's staff. By easing himself a little more to the right on the floor, he saw Krystal standing behind Rayne, her staff fully extended, so that the blue inlaid markings on it were visible, and solidly plunged into Rayne's body. "_NEVER _try to hurt my friends while I'm watching!" she growled hatefully to the dying scientist. And then she said in a steady, but yet somehow evoking voice in Cerinian: "Krazoa, jsehsx kxaj odomo nakx oeih vaho!"

The result was amazing. A blaze of purple flame enveloped Rayne's body in a matter of seconds. He started to scream in immense agony and tried to pull himself away from it. But the staff was lodged firmly in his chest, so he could not get away. Krystal held him there for several seconds, screaming in agony and pain, but when he screamed even louder as his eyes began to fry with a sizzling sound, she decided to end his misery. With a hard yank, she pulled the staff back out; half of it was red and not golden because of Rayne's blood. The fire immediately died out, and the disfigured, charred and unrecognizable body of Hector Rayne fell to the floor with a thud for the last time, never to rise again.

Jakob looked at Krystal, who returned his look and said in a calm voice "I think it's over now." "Yeah, I think so, too. And thank you for saving my hide just before!" Ghost said to her. "No problem, Ghost! And you know that it'll never be a problem. That's what friends are for, right?" she asked him with a smile. "You're absolutely right! And now I'll load up my weapons. Just leave your camo-uniform. You won't need it anymore, and I tore mine to shreds." he said as he strapped the belt with his blasters and magazine-shaped energy cells around his waist, and the SMGs in their holsters around his thighs.

"By the way" he said, strapping his knife above his right ankle and putting his comm. unit into place in his ear "didn't you just say: Krazoa, scorch this enemy with your fire?". Krystal blinked in surprise. "Yes, I did. How did you know?" she asked. "Oh, you heard what Rayne said. The power of the Cerinian language has been transferred to me accidentally from the spirits. But I don't think that it'll last." he said, putting on his trenchcoat and black leather gloves. "Alright, our main objective now is to make it to an exit from this base. We'll wait for John… Saber, I mean… outside. Don't you need a weapon, Krystal? A laser rifle or something?" he asked her as soon as his second glove was into place.

"Well, I don't think that I'll need my sniper rifle anymore, so I'll just leave it here. Besides, I've got my staff. It can shoot rapid-fire Fire Blasts _and _be an excellent tool in melee. It's as good as any laser rifle!" she said knowingly, waving in around in front of Ghost's nose. "Yeah, lucky you! Multi-purpose staff and everything…" he mumbled with a smile on his face. "But, seriously, you'll need more firepower that that if we're going to make it out of here alive. Not to criticise your staff, but… here, you can borrow these!" he said, holding his SMGs out for her to take.

She took them and gave him a smile, before she made her staff retract into itself by placing her fingers on it in a special combination, and placed it in a strap on her hip. Jakob drew his blaster with the photon neutralizer on it and held the knife pointed downwards underneath the butt of the blaster with his other hand. And while constantly watching each other's backs, Jakob and Krystal set out on their journey through the base.

Furey prowled nervously back and forth in the little square room in the basement, where Erena and Qatou were still hanging in their shackles and John's equipment was still lying on the table. Since Saber had sent him the call over the comlink, his tough shell had begun to crack and he now felt very scared. From what he had heard when he received the call, John had been pushed just a bit too far, and was now coming to square off against him. "Well, that'll be over my dead body!" Furey thought, feeling some of his self-confidence return.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard as they approached the door to the room. Seconds after, John called for him on the other side of the door: "_Fuuuurrreeeeyyyy!_" he shouted. When Erena and Qatou heard his voice, they both said "Saber!" in perfect unison. Furey looked desperately around the room for a weapon, before his gaze settled upon John's old-school blaster on the table. He grabbed it and pointed it at the door. "Looking for me!" he shouted aggressively. "Well, then, you've found me. And here's your welcoming gift!", whereupon he opened fire as fast as the blaster allowed him to with a thundering sound as each strong laser charge was released. The shots flew through the thin layer of metal, which the door was made of, surprisingly easy, leaving large holes in the door, so that it eventually did not consist of much metal.

At the other side, Saber hugged the wall as the shots flew past him in the middle of the hallway. Furey had a tendency to fire only at the middle of the door, presumably because his instincts told him that John was standing right in front of it. But after 12 shots, the weapon was out of energy. Furey squeezed the trigger a few times before realizing that it was useless. He threw the blaster angrily into a corner, and turned his attention to the door again, which in that very moment was kicked down by John. It flew off its hinges and landed on the floor, weakened by the continuous laser fire.

Saber stepped through, setting his cap straight on his head. "Hello again, jackass!" he said coldly. "I've come to retrieve my equipment, get the Cerinians out of here – and to try and knock some decent behaviour into that little psychopathic fucking head of yours!". Furey smiled evilly. "Very well, then. Suit yourself. But can you hit someone who's wearing _this?_" he asked triumphantly and pointed to his chest, where he had pinned Saber's Cornerian Medal of Honour on his shirt. John stared blankly at him for a moment, and then his eyes filled with resolve and rage. _"NO-ONE MESSES WITH MY MEDAL OF HONOUR, BITCH!"_ he screamed, jumped into the air and swung his leg in a circle, delivering a perfect Hurricane flying kick to the right side of Furey's head.

Despite the immense power that was behind the attack, Furey only flinched a little as the kick hit him, and he was not knocked off balance. Instead, he just smiled pityingly as Saber started executing some fast combos consisting of three to four punches to Furey's stomach and head, before jumping away to prepare himself for his next strike, which came some seconds after. The pain Furey felt from this was absolutely minimal, because he was prepared for it and could tighten the muscles he needed to absorb the power from the punches.

When he had had enough of this,Furey entered the combat himself, starting out by striking John with a powerful three-hit combo: Two punches to his stomach and one to his face. Saber staggered backwards, but recuperated after a couple of seconds, just in time to dodge the next series of punches that Furey threw at him. He dodged each of them with a high-pitched "Woo-hoo!". As another punch was aimed at his face, he quickly jerked his head to the side, so that the punch missed, before delivering a punch of his own to Furey's face. Furey just grinned, licked the blood off his lips and continued to suppress John with punches that he dodged.

But it did not annoy Furey that his attacks missed, for he was slowly, but steadily, making his opponent back right into the wall, and John was too concentrated on dodging to see where he was going. But he felt it soon enough, as he was suddenly brought to a halt by the feel of the solid wall against his back. He stopped dead for a couple of seconds, which was all the time Furey needed to smack his fist directly into his face. The impact and power of the punch made Saber's head jerk backwards, which only resulted in him slamming the back of his head into the wall with a great deal of force. As he was dazed by this, he felt Furey's hand close around his head, and then an ominous, crackling sound filled his ears, a sound that he knew all too well: The crackle of Furey's vitality-draining energy. He began to feel tired and weary, and fell to his knees, but it lasted only for a couple of seconds, and then Furey removed his hand again.

John staggered to his feet, and through the blur that his vision had become, he could see the small table in the middle of the room with all his equipment on it. Amongst all the other things, he saw Ragetooth in its sheath. If he could just get to it… But he could do nothing while Furey was still so strong. His mind raced feverishly to come up with a plan – and he developed a daring one at the last possible moment.

"Who's theidiot now?" Furey said and smirked before he threw a punch at John's face, which Saber only narrowly dodged. "Come on, hit me! If you can, that is, and you're not too weak" Furey taunted discouragingly and walked towards John, who focused his willpower intensely and delivered a punch to Furey's face with all the power he could muster. A muffled _crunch_ sounded and Furey withdrew, clutching his face with his hand. As he removed it, Saber could see that his face was red with blood, which originated from his broken nose.

"My, my!" Furey said in a low threatening voice "we still have a little power left, eh? But not for long!" whereupon he made a feint, which made John raise his parades to the wrong side, so that Furey could get a clear view of his head. His other hand shot forwards like an attacking snake, almost ablaze with crackling reddish energy, and closed yet again around Saber's head. The feeling of exhaustion was much stronger this time; it was obvious that Furey had only played with him the first time. As he felt his strength and vitality waning rapidly, John knew that it was now or never.

This was what he had been waiting for, in order to make his plan work, so it was entirely up to him to use the moment in the right way. He clenched his right hand into a fist behind his back before whispering weakly to Furey: "Try draining your _own_ strength and vitality instead of others' for a change…dude!" before smashing his knuckles with all of his might into Furey's eyes, which were wide open. A horrible squishing sound followed and Furey began to scream in intense pain. He backed away from Saber, clutching his bleeding eyes with the hand without the crackling energy.

But the reddish energy still crackled around his other hand. Apparently, the pain had made him forget that the energy was still there. John used the momentum that he had thereby been given to jump forwards, grab hold of Furey's arm just below the elbow and direct his "energy hand" to his face, around which it instantly closed by instinct. Furey screamed at the top of his lungs for a moment as he felt the horrible sensation, but then his screams became gradually weaker as his strength and vitality were drained, and eventually he fell to the floor, unconscious.

John wiped some sweat off his brow and searched the belt that Furey carried around his waist. It was filled with small pockets or pouches to carry things in, and after a couple of searches he found what he presumed to be the keys for the shackles. He went to Qatou, said "Hey dude!" and tried the key in the lock of the shackles. And they opened with no problem. When Qatou was safely on the ground, he placed his hand on Saber's shoulder and said a heartfelt "Kxudb oei!". John thought he had heard that phrase used before when he took out the guard at their cell, and judging from the circumstances, he presumed that it meant "thank you", which was exactly what it did.

"Don't mention it, Qatou, my man!" he grinned, and then went to unshackle Erena, When she was on the ground as well, she stroked his arm a few times as if to show her gratitude, and then went to Qatou at the other end of the room. Saber glanced from them to the unconscious Furey at the floor, who had gotten red stripes in his white hair because of the blood that had been flowing during the combat just before. Then, he glanced at Ragetooh and the now empty shackles, and his gaze suddenly became determined.

"Guys, I'd appreciate it very much if you would back into a corner of the room and _not_ look over here! It's going to be bloody." he said, waving them off, and surprisingly enough they followed his bidding. He then went to Furey and dragged him all the way across the floor to the shackles, in which John hung him. As he took his Cornerian Medal of Honour off of Furey's shirt and pinned it back onto his vest, Furey moaned and recovered slowly from his unconsciousness.

When he had woken fully, the first thing he saw was Saber fetching his sword from the table and drawing it from its sheath, pointing it directly at him. The runes, which were engraved in the blade, began to glow with an ominous red light, not because Ragetooth sensed danger or a fight in the near future, but simply because it hungered for blood. Furey tried to fight against the iron grip of the shackles, but he had – literally by accident – drained his strength too much. He could not put up anything that looked like a decent struggle.

He looked pleadingly at John, who got that stone-cold glint in his eyes, which always appeared when he was about to eliminate someone. "Well, well, well, look who we have here. The mighty Edward Furey! Damn shame, all tied up and no place to go!" Saber said slowly and sarcastically, stepping closer so that the tip of Ragetooth graced Furey's chest lightly. "Tell me: How much pleasure did you gain from torturing all the poor Lylatians that you dumped me into the middle of? Huh? Not to mention my Cerinian friends over here? Can you tell me that, you deranged, sadistic, fucking psychopath?" he growled angrily. Furey looked at him confusedly and hazily. "N-no! Please!" he stammered weakly. "I-I just tried to…". But Saber never allowed him to finish his explanation before he plunged the sword through Furey's chest.

A disgusting wet _crunch_ could be heard all over the room, as the bones in the chest were splintered by the blade, and one second after, Furey's ear-splitting scream of intense agony cut through the air. He squirmed in pain in the grip of the shackles, which only resulted in him getting the blood-stained blade pushed further into his body; a third of it was already sticking out from his back. But John was not done yet.

"Oh, come on, speak up!" John hissed through clenched teeth because of all his pent-up anger, which was now unleashed. Now, by saying that line to the man who had said it to his friend while he beat her to a pulp, Saber felt that he got his well-deserved revenge. "I can't hear what you're saying, I can only hear you screaming!". And then, he pulled the sword out of Furey's body, whirled around to get some power behind his next attack, and then brought the sword down in a perfect, clean cut across Furey's throat, slicing it effectively. Furey gasped a few pained dying breaths before he finally fell silent.

John turned to Erena and Qatou, who were holding each other close in the corner of the room, hiding their heads at the other one's shoulder. They looked at him hesitantly, as he strapped his equipment back into place. Saber himself felt good at the moment; he had just rid himself of all the aggressions and anger that Furey had instilled in him because of all the atrocities he had committed. John went to the corner where Furey had thrown his blaster, removed the empty energy cell from the weapon by punching it lightly so that it fell out from its holder and down onto the floor, and quickly smacked a new one into place that he took from his pocket. Furey's guards had apparently not realised that he kept them there when they took away his equipment, but that was just lucky for him. When John's katana, blaster, Cornerian Medal of Honour and Mikki's rocket were all in place, he looked calmly at Erena.

"It's okay. Be at peace, now, Erena." he said softly and reassuringly to her, because he had gotten the impression that she was the one who had suffered the most by Furey's hand. "That psycho's gone for good... and if he isn't, you can call me Saber the Sissy for the rest of this week!". It was obvious that Erena did not understand a thing of what he said at the end of his sentence, but she nodded and smiled thankfully nonetheless. Qatou just looked amazedly at Saber, who did not waste a second, but started marching resolutely towards the opening in the wall where there had once been a door, beckoning for the others to follow him.

The Cerinians had to jog a little to keep up with John, as he strode energetically and determinedly through the corridor. "Okay, guys!" he started slowly and clearly, giving them a chance to try and understand him. "Keep your wits about you. If you see any bad guys" he gestured with his hands as if he wore a balaclava on his head "you let me know, and I'll take care of them. If we keep our eyes peeled and stay close, we might just make it out of here in one piece. And I believe Ghost, my friend and commander, is waiting for you outside… along with Krystal, whom you may know!". The Cerinians both nodded as he said Krystal, so he presumed that they knew her. He smiled to himself and concluded that he had done this day's good deed.

"Tell me, Krystal" Jakob said, as he heard the footsteps of at least ten guards closing in on the T-intersection in the corridor where they were hiding at each side, just at the corner of each branch "Was this your idea of an easy escape?". The blue-furred vixen shook her head and then looked to the guard a bit further down the corridor where they had come from. He clutched a comlink in his left hand, and he had left a trail of blood down the wall as Ghost had pierced the man's head with his knife.

"No, not really, but since that scumbag managed to report to his superiors, we might as well _make_ it an easy one by cleaning out a bit!" she grinned. "I hear you. Stay close to me. We're moving out!" Jakob said, as he heard the footsteps of a guard get dangerously close. In one flowing movement, Ghost swung his left arm – the one holding the knife – around the corner of the corridor. It pierced something soft with a squishing sound which was followed by a gurgle, and he pulled it towards him – whatever it was - while simultaneously stepping outside along with Krystal, who had raised her borrowed SMGs to be ready to fire.

As Jakob got a complete view of the hallway stretching out in front of them, he could only see three guards standing farther down, just before a new intersection, this time a four-way cross and not a T-intersection as the one they came from. And in a split second, Ghost saw what his knife had pierced: The forehead of a guard, who had wanted to ambush them. With a flick of his left hand and wrist, which closed around the hilt of the knife, he turned the body around so that he was covered by it as if by a shield, as the guards started to open fire. The red, high-powered laser beams all slammed into the corpse he held before him, making it twitch with each shot. In his other hand, Jakob held his blaster, and he could just aim it over his cover and shoot at the guards, making one of them fall with a scream.

Krystal, however, was far more exposed, but she seemed to use her telepathy and uncanny reflexes greatly to her advantage: As the two remaining guards opened fire, she swerved and dodged gracefully to avoid being hit by the deadly rain of energy, making a little bend in her back before jumping back up on her feet and whirling around like a sky-blue whirlwind. All these moves seemed to be connected in a weird way. It was the same intuitive, technique-based and instinct-trusting style that Jakob had learnt, although he did not know telepathy. As the guards were confused by the continuous dodging and ceased fire for just a second, Krystal had all the time she needed to aim the SMGs and unleash a hail of white laser fire upon the guards, while in the middle of an evasive spin. They fell down onto the floor, gurgling faintly.

Krystal put her foot down with a sudden quick movement to stop herself from spinning any further, before she looked at Ghost, a wide smile upon her face as if to say "My reflexes are still in order, you know!". Jakob gave her two thumbs up and nodded approvingly, before he scanned the corridor for more hostiles. "Damn!" he mumbled to himself. "They must be hiding in that four-way intersection up ahead. And I think that I can hear more of them coming from where we came!" he said and pointed down to the T-intersection, where some more running footsteps could indeed be heard.

The duo turned away from the T-intersection and walked towards the one with four ways up ahead. As they were almost there, Jakob mumbled "Flurry." to Krystal, who nodded. She knew their tactics by heart. As they went, Ghost pulled the photon neutralizer off of his blaster, stuck it into his belt and drew his other blaster. He would not need the neutralizer anymore, and he wanted to be fully armed and ready.

Just before they stepped out into the intersection, they stopped dead to hear what was going on. The running footsteps from behind them came closer, but some also seemed to originate from the corridor directly in front of them. However, they could not see any guards yet. Jakob counted silently to three before murmuring "Go!" and the two of them stood back to back, like they had done numerous times before, and started spinning around and out into the intersection like a whirlwind of cerulean fur and black trenchcoat leather, each of them stretching his and her arms out to the left and right.

As they were whirling out into the middle of the intersection, the first thing they noticed through their spinning vision was six guards that stood in the corridors leading left and right, three guards in each. They started to open fire with their automatic laser rifles, but the duo was whirling around at too fast a pace so that the guards' shots completely missed. Ghost and Krystal saw this as a perfect opportunity to strike back.

As they were spinning, each of them squeezed the triggers of the weapons they were carrying, blasters and SMGs, unleashing a flurry of white laser fire that was sprayed around the area in a deadly circular sweep. The guards in the corridors twitched as the laser slammed into their bodies and fell down onto the floor, some screaming and some silent. But the problems were not over yet for Jakob and Krystal, for just as they had disposed of the guards in the corridors to the sides, they saw the guards that they had only been able to hear previously come running towards them from the corridors leading north/south.

They stopped their spinning in the middle of the intersection and then turned around synchronically so that they faced each other and were at the same time looking down the corridors in opposite directions, where they could clearly see the guards coming closer. They extended their arms past each other's heads and opened fire with blasters and SMGs, sending a hail of white laser fire down through the corridors, all the time staring into each other's eyes, as if to read what the other one was thinking, and listening to the screams of the guards who twitched in uncontrollable spasms and fell into crumpled heaps as they were hit by the deadly rain of energy.

When the last guard had fallen down, they ceased fire simultaneously and slowly lowered their weapons, as if by a silent mental agreement, before Krystal handed Jakob his SMGs, which he stuck into their holsters at his thighs. There was silence for a moment, which Krystal broke. "Well, Ghost…" she said "it seems we've still got it!" She smiled happily. He returned her smile. "But that's exactly why we train so much, isn't it? To keep our reflexes and that synergy of ours in tip-top shape?" he asked, and she nodded affirmatively in response. "Right. Let's get going… _WHAT THE HELL?_"

The reason for his exclamation was that four of the guards, whom they had just blasted, staggered to their feet and went towards the duo. Apparently, they were seriously wounded, but that did not prevent them from fighting. As they closed in and formed something that looked like a circle around Ghost and Krystal, Jakob mumbled "Alright. No guns." before putting his blasters back into place in their holsters at his waist and standing back to back with Krystal, both of them entering their CQC-positions.

Fate had conspired it so that Krystal just got the time she needed to extend her staff before the enemy attacked. The guard directly in front of her suddenly lunged at her with a punch, but Krystal made an elegant evasive spin backwards and dodged his attack that way, whereupon she retaliated by whacking him across the face numerous times with her staff, making it spin rapidly in her grasp, before leaping up into the air and hitting the man in the chest with a perfect spin kick. He fell over on the floor with a shout, and Krystal used that chance to thrust her ornamented staff downwards like a spear and impale the man's skull with the relatively sharp pointed head of her staff.

Meanwhile, another guard also tried to hit Jakob. But he did not spin backwards. Instead, he quickly jerked his body to the right by making half a spin. As he was now in the clear, standing approximately next to the guard, and the guard needed a few seconds to regain his orientation, Ghost lifted his foot and smashed it, with all the force he could muster, into the soft area behind the kneecap. This made the guard's leg crumble like a dry twig that gets snapped and he fell to his knees, moaning.

As he was lying there on his knees, Jakob drew one of his blasters and twirled it around his finger a couple of times before he pressed it to the back of the guard's head and pulled the trigger. The sound of a laser blast and the short, sizzling sound of meat, which is frying, could be heard, and the guard fell from his knees and onto the floor, smoke rising from the back of his head. And again, Ghost twirled the blaster around his finger as he approached the holster, in which he put it back; not for any practical effect, just for showing off a bit.

Now, there were only two guards left, and as Jakob put the blaster in its holster, he could hear the characteristic sound of military boots running towards him from behind. He raised his right arm and thrust his elbow backwards in a fast, but powerful, thrust, and the guy behind him moaned; he had not been completely knocked out although Jakob had hit him directly in the face, just a bit dazed. This was just what Ghost needed, for he swung his right leg around in a spin kick and hit the man in the chest. He flew backwards and slammed the back of his head into the floor. Jakob was not sure if he had killed the guard.

But because he had just turned around, he saw Krystal struggle with the last guard. He was very persistent, blocking her every move. Finally, she managed to break through his parades and hit him with a punch to the head and a kick to the stomach. He staggered backwards, only to recuperate a moment after and rush at Krystal with a shout of rage coming from his mouth. But she had anticipated his move, and when he thrust his arm forward in a punch, she grabbed hold of his wrist and sent him tumbling across the floor with a mere twist of his arm. As he regained his footing, it was only to find the edge of Ghost's hand slamming into his neck, in much the same fashion as he had done with Rayne. The guard was thrown to the floor by the impact, where he laid gurgling and twitching for some seconds before drawing his last breath.

Jakob gave Krystal a look of admiration. "Not bad, Krystal. Not bad at all!" he smiled. "I don't have to tell you that I would say just the same to you, now do I?" she asked jokingly and returned his smile. They both turned around to continue down the corridor. "Hold it… _right there!_" a voice growled from behind them, which made them turn and look. Amongst the dead guards that they had just taken down, the one that Ghost had kicked and hit in the face with his elbow was apparently not dead, for he had managed to get to his feet and snatch a laser rifle from one of the other corpses. He started to align his aim on the twosome, but did not get any further than that.

A loud _FOOM_ was heard from the corridor leading east, and half a second after the sound, a large white laser bolt smashed into the man's temple. He moaned and fell limply to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut, some embers flying from his head. And the next moment, Jakob and Krystal were faced by John, who sprinted out into the middle of the intersection with Erena and Qatou in tow, his blaster drawn and ready to fire again. As soon as Krystal saw them, her eyes went wide. She ran towards them at a frenzied pace, but not too fast to stop and give Saber a quick hug on the way, muttering "Thank you, Saber!" into his ear and leaving him completely dumbfounded. As she reached Erena and Qatou, they all joined into a group hug and started speed-talking in Cerinian, tears of joy trickling down their cheeks.

John, understanding none of this, turned to Jakob, who gave him a high five. "Hey, homie!" Ghost said merrily. "Man, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be alive right now. You came just in time. I have to repay you someday. Remind me of it, if you would.". Saber was too distracted by what was going on. He just stared wide-eyed at Jakob and then gestured over his shoulder towards Krystal. "Dude… did she just… I mean… oh man, this is weird… did she just…" he stammered out, looking baffled.

"Hug you? Yes!" Jakob smiled. "But you'd better take it for a fact and get yourself together very soon, if we are to leave this place in one piece. The guards outside have undoubtedly heard rumours about these fire-fights by now, and they're probably coming to check it out. In large numbers, too, I presume.". John nodded and sent him a wry smile.

Ghost turned around, so that he faced the three Cerinians, and opened his mouth to say "We'll be moving out soon. We're ready when you are.". But it seemed that the "accidental" gift of the Cerinian spirits had not left him just yet, for the words came out of his mouth in Cerninan, completely involuntarily. "No'cc ro meladw eik jeed. No'ho houto nxod oei uho.". The Cerinians just nodded and did not say anything; Erena and Qatou were too focused on the situation at hand to ponder about how it could be that a non-Cerinian could speak their language, and Krystal knew what had happened to him, so she felt no need to ask questions.

Saber, on the other hand, looked rather taken aback. "Uh… Ghost… did you just speak Cerinian! But you've _never_ _learned the fucking language!_" he shouted out, now in a state of total confusion. "I'll give you the short version of how it happened: A maniacal scientist by the name of Hector Rayne forced my mental self to meet with the spirits of Cerinia, and they accidentally transferred their ability to speak the language to me, when they floated through me to drain my life-force, in order to give me a slow and painful death. I'll tell you the long version when this is over!" Jakob said to John, whereupon he made a waving movement with his arm, indicating that the others should follow his lead.

And then, the group of five continued through the corridors, weapons drawn and at the ready, determined to escape from the base no matter what the cost. And as they went, Jakob, John and Krystal, after having reflected about what had happened here, reached the same conclusion in their minds, without having talked at all with the others: There was nothing more sinister than to receive a call from the dead, decide to check it out, and end up in a world of pain where no way of escaping could be found unless luck and fate intervened. And, they concluded, luck and fate had certainly played their parts in this little escapade. They knew that they would not have been alive, if it were not so.

After five minutes of walking, the group started to find itself in familiar areas that everyone had seen on their way in, which meant that they were probably approaching an exit. Even Qatou and Erena, who had spent many years of their lives imprisoned deep within the bowels of this filthy hellhole, could remember these areas. But as they reached a T-intersection further down the corridor, the one they were coming from being one of the branches of the T, and stepped out into the main corridor, their happiness of soon getting out of the base was replaced with fright:

Just as they had estimated, they had now reached the main gate of the base, but what caused them to feel frightened was the heavy mounted laser machinegun that had been set up in the middle of the gate, operated by one guard. This would not have been so bad, had it not been for the twenty-four other guards who flanked him with their automatic laser rifles at the ready. The group had just enough time to divide and duck into cover, Jakob and Krystal behind one corner and John, Erena and Qatou behind the other, before the guards opened fire, unleashing the most destructive wave of red energy that they had seen in a long time.

Between the noises coming from the rapid-firing laser rifles, the loud sounds of the mounted laser machinegun could also be heard, and its power could be seen in its shots: Its beams were larger, glowed a much brighter red than any of the ordinary laser beams, and they pulverized a larger area of the wall they were slamming into. The three Cerinians and two commandos, who were hiding behind the corners of the T-intersection, saw the wall of the corridor getting completely disintegrated, and they knew that if they stepped out into the hallway now, they would surely die.

Jakob drew his blasters and quickly whirled out with his trenchcoat billowing behind him, so that he was still half covered by the wall, fired a few shots in rapid succession and then ducked back into cover. John started doing the same with his powerful old-school blaster when Ghost had gone back into cover. They kept suppressing the guards like this for five minutes, constantly popping around the corners and firing a few shots before diving back into cover again. But suddenly, Jakob's magazines ran dry. He cursed under his breath, dived back into cover and said "Damn! I'm out. Krystal, take over and cover me!".

"Alright!" she answered and resumed the suppressive fire with her staff's Fire Blast-ability. Ghost tilted the blasters a little before jerking his hands – and the blasters in their grip – suddenly away from him. He still held on to the butts of the blasters, but the empty energy cells flew out of them and skidded along the floor before coming to a halt when they hit the wall. He lowered the now empty butts of the blasters over two magazines in his belt, so that half of them was covered by the butt, drew the blasters upwards with the half-fastened energy cells sticking out from the butts of the blasters, and gave each energy cell a quick punch so that it was pushed all the way into the butt. The energy measuring meters at the sides of the blasters lighted up, indicating that the energy had been restored.

Jakob tapped Krystal on the shoulder, and she understood the hint, but as she let him stand behind the corner again, ready to pop out and fire, she said into his ear: "This is pretty useless. We've only taken down five of them, and you've already run out of ammo once. Saber has been more conservative, but he has to change his energy cell sooner or later. We're just keeping each other at bay, and eventually we'll run out of ammo and they'll win!" Krystal had to shout to make herself heard above the hail of laser fire slamming into the wall. And right she was, for John ducked back into cover with a _"Fuck!",_ punched the empty energy cell out of the weapon and smacked a new one into place. But just as he was about to jump out and fire again, he got an evil and sly look upon his face.

He holstered the blaster, stuck one hand under his shirt and pulled Mikki's rocket out, which earned him a couple of surprised looks from Erena and Qatou. "I still have this! _Eat this, bitches!_" he screamed ecstatically, weighed the weapon in his hand like a javelin, and then threw it with all the force he could muster out into the corridor. The rocket hit the ground with a _clank_, but nothing happened to it, it just lay there, and apparently the guards were too focused on tearing the entire place apart with laser fire rather than noticing the rocket.

"Aw, man!" John shouted irritably. "Now what? We're pinned down here. We should've taken the other entrance!". He looked to Jakob and Krystal for their responses, but was confused as they started smiling widely and waving. "Oh, come on, don't play idiots now!" he said angrily. "Why didn't we take the other entrance?" A voice he knew perfectly well, and which he had not heard for a long time, answered from behind him. "Because it was also heavily guarded, that's why it took me so long to get in; I had to take care of those guys in front of it. And because you throw things like a girl, you rocket-stealing asshole!"

Saber turned around in surprise and saw the massive figure of Shield looming above him. But there was a smile on Mikki's face, for he was after all happy to see that everyone was alive and well. "So it was him that the others waved to!" John thought to himself. "Hey, guys!" Mikki said, as he took his rocket launcher down from his back. "Looks like you're in need of a hand. Now, Saber, let me show you how it's _really_ done!".

Without expressing the slightest bit of fear, he stepped out quickly into the corridor from behind the wall and fired his rocket with "Have a nice day!" written on it. It flew down the main hallway before colliding with the mounted laser machinegun. A monstrous explosion followed, along with the screams of dying men. When the smoke and dust had settled, the group could clearly see that blood and body parts had been splashed around the corridor and the laser machinegun was no more; only a smoking pile of steel was left. Ten to fifteen guards staggered to their feet and started to aim their rifles at the group, but they were quite disoriented. The rest of them had either fled for their lives or were lying maimed on the ground, screaming. And surely, most of them had simply died.

Shield used the moment of disorientation among the surviving guards to snatch his rocket from the floor and put it into place in the bazooka. Mikki flung the bazooka onto his back and reached for the plasma Gatling gun at his side. He looked around at the others with a wicked grin on his face. "Let's give these suckers what's coming to 'em! _EAT THIS!_" he screamed, before he opened fire with his weapon, unleashing a deadly flurry of powerful blue plasma rays at the enemies in front of him.

John slowly started to smile also, and it was not long before he joined the attack with his blaster. "_Come on! Come and get some!_" he shouted madly, firing away in pure frenzy. And a few seconds after that, exchanging a quick look with each other and nodding, Jakob and Krystal joined in, too, with blazing SMGs and a staff that never seemed to run out of power. This combined energy flurry literally swept the enemies away from their position blocking the gate, and some of them were actually thrown backwards in violent spasms because of the sudden impact of energy. When Team G-Wing finally ceased fire simultaneously, nothing was left in the gate that could obstruct their path to freedom.

Without giving a signal or saying anything, Jakob walked off through the corridor and cautiously avoided stepping on the bodies that were strewn in the gateway. The others followed him silently. As they went out through the gate and found themselves in the clearing in the jungle where the base had been set up, Erena and Qatou took many deep breaths as they breathed the fresh outdoor air for the first time in many years. The sun had come out and now shone brightly on the surroundings, giving everything a fresh, lush colour. Ghost turned to face the others in the deserted base courtyard, a big smile of happiness and relief on his face.

"Guys, I think it's safe to say that we all performed above and beyond the call of duty today. We've infiltrated this base, screwed up and been captured, managed to break free again, located the Cerinians and we've fought off the enemy opposition to get out of here again!".

"Hey, just a moment, _sir_!" John said fiercely "_We_ didn't find the Cerinians… _I_ did. Don't make any mistake about that. I'd like to get some credit every once in a while!" he smiled. "Of course. You must tell me your story and I'll pass it straight on to General Pepper. And from what I can see, it hasn't been pleasant!". He gestured towards the scars on Saber's face.

"And let's not forget Shield, who helped us when we needed it the most. Thanks buddy!" Jakob said. "No problem, dude! I'll always be ready when you guys call me… although I acted on my own this time because I saw that you were in trouble!" Mikki smiled. "And let's not forget the Krazoa." Ghost mumbled to himself. "We wouldn't have gotten out if it weren't for them!". There was silence for two seconds, and then Qatou asked "Nxuk den?". And this time, Jakob could not understand it. However marvellous it was, the gift of the Cerinian language had left him for good. Qatou had asked "What now?" and Krystal gave him a simple answer in Cerinian as they started to walk back to their Arwings: "No'ho weadw xemo". "We're going home"

Five minutes - and an awful lot of hyper-space travelling - later, the four Arwings zoomed into the Cornerian stratosphere. Far below them, they could see the majestically towering and shiny skyscrapers that made up most of Corneria City, the fiery sunset gleaming in their tops, so that they looked like spears with fire blazing at their tips. "I've reached Fox and the others on the radio, and I've persuaded them to land the Great Fox at the Cornerian Fleet Academy, where they'll meet us along with General Pepper." Krystal informed the other members of the team.

"Alright, thanks, Krystal. If Pepper's there, we don't want to be late. All fighters, engage afterburners!" Jakob ordered, and not soon after, the landing pad of the CFA came into view. The Great Fox stood there like a slumbering guardian and five small dots stood next to it. As Team G-Wing landed, they could clearly see that it was Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy and Pepper, who were waiting for them.

As soon as his engines had shut down, John jumped out of his cockpit with a "WHAT'S UP, HOMIES!", ran to Pepper and shook his hand violently. Erena also climbed out of his Arwing – it could roughly fit two in times of need – and looked around at the magnificent surroundings amazedly. Qatou did the same after climbing out from Shield's cockpit when Mikki had climbed out. Finally, Jakob and Krystal emerged from their Arwings, and the entire team went to face General Pepper and Team Star Fox. Both sides gave each other a respectful salute, and then Fox and Krystal could not take the separation anymore, for they ran to each other and met in a passionate embrace.

Jakob looked at them for a moment with a wry smile on his face before turning his attention to Pepper. John had stepped back from Pepper and now stood at attention, and in Pepper's aged eyes and face, a glint of high spirits could be seen. "Team G-Wing" the old canine General finally said "you passed with flying colours today. You told Fox your stories as you travelled here, and he has told them to me. I am very proud to know that I have _two_ elite teams to call for in times of need. To give the surviving Cerinians permission to stay here on Corneria for the rest of their lives under the protection of the Cornerian Army is the least I can do in return for your excellent display of heroism today. I should be able to work something out with the Cornerian authorities!" he said and smiled wryly.

"Anyway" Pepper continued "I'll discuss your performance with the other military leaders, and who knows: Maybe another medal is in store for you? I think that'll be very likely, since, Team G-Wing, once again you've proved your incredible worth to me, Team Star Fox and the rest of the Lylat System. Well done, everyone! You're dismissed!" Pepper said, turned around sharply and disappeared behind the wide glass doors that led into the CFA. A few moments later, a couple of soldiers came to escort the Cerinians to their future home.

"Well, guys, I think this is where it ends!" John said with a great deal of finality in his voice. The others remained in the background, as if to acknowledge that Saber had gotten to know the two and that they were special to him, except for Krystal, who said goodbye to them, assured them that they would meet again, and gave each of them a hug. As John approached them, Qatou squeezed his hand firmly and patted him on the shoulder before saying in perfect English "Thank you… dude!". It was amazing how fast he was to pick up languages, but Saber just smiled and returned the pat on the shoulder. Erena did not say a thing. She just walked towards him and threw herself onto him in a hug of friendship. And it was not done lightly, but with all the strength she could muster.

"So, guys, what're your plans for this evening?" Jakob asked casually, as Team Star Fox and G-Wing approached the Cornerian monorail that was a fast way of transportation around the city. "Oh, you know" Fox said airily as a long hovercar pulled up on the rail in front of them "Peppy and Slippy are going to stay at the Great Fox along with ROB to go over some details in our system maps. Boring as hell if you ask me!" he grinned. "But Falco, Krystal and I are probably going out on a bit of clubbing.". He turned his head and looked at Ghost. "Would you like to join us?" he asked with a smile upon his face. "Yeah, come on Jakob, it'll be so much fun!" Krystal urged him.

He thought about it for a moment, and then returned Fox's smile. "Sure, why not? I've got nothing better to do, really. And clubbing with you guys does indeed sound fun. But no drinking contests for me, alright?" he asked sharply. "Clubbing? Drinking contests? COUNT ME IN, FOX!" John screamed maniacally, but then narrowed his eyes and looked at Falco. "You're going _DOWN_, man!" he said, referring to the idea of a drinking contest. Falco smirked. "Just try, Saber. You have no idea how much I can take!" "Well, we're about to find out, aren't we?" John said coldly.

They all looked at Mikki, who had not decided yet about what to do. They all sent him a stare that implied "Go clubbing with us". He shook his head firmly. "NO! You know how I feel about those things.". But they kept up their stare. After a few more moments, he nodded. "Alright. But don't force me to drink any alcohol, or I'll crush your tiny little skulls!". They all laughed as they boarded the hovercar, and just before it blasted off into the city, which seemed almost ablaze because of the sunset being reflected in the shiny facades of the buildings, one could clearly hear Mikki's voice:  
"No, seriously, I mean it!"


	11. Chapter 10: In This Hall of Mirrors

**_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_** Hello, everyone, it's me again, back from vacation. I meant to put these notes at the start of the previous chapter, but they'll go here instead. My vacation was quite exciting, but this is not the time, nor the place, to discuss that. And now that I put my notes here, I can thank my incredibly supportive reviewers (special thanks to **DarthVenom2** and **Fox The Cave (II)** (again!)) for your very helpful and honest reviews. I'll try to remember your advice the best I can in the future. And my attempt starts here, with this chapter, so... enjoy, everyone! (Bonus points to those of you, who can guess which game character Ki'Lek (a character appearing later in this chapter) is based upon!)

**Chapter 10: In This Hall of Mirrors ****  
**  
From lieutenant John (Saber)'s log: _Day 10: Chilled after the episode on Orakar-5… and wiped Falco's butt in the simulator. PWNAGE! Day 11: Nothing spectacular, trained a bit… and chilled some more. Oh, and visited Erena and Qatou on Corneria. Day 12: I'm a bit in doubt whether to train or chill, but we'll see as the day goes. __  
_  
From commander Jakob (Ghost)'s log: _11:47, Lylatian Standard Time. STAFF COMBAT? She has got to be kidding me! Krystal's latest suggestion to me was that she would train me in the art of staff combat as they do it… or rather "did it"… on Cerinia. I am certain that I will get my ass kicked, but perhaps it will be fun, despite the fact that I have never touched a staff before in my life. Also, I have much work to do today, since I will be conducting a sweep of the sectors in the vicinity of the Great Fox… just to be sure! __  
_  
From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log: _Since I came to their aid on Orakar-5, Saber hasn't stopped saying to me how much in charge he was of the situation, and that he could've taken ALL those fuckers out himself. Yeah right, John! I know you're lying! __  
_  
"Good morning, guys!" Fox said enthusiastically, as he stepped onto the bridge of the Great Fox. Everyone else from both teams was located here, happily enjoying Peppy's delicate breakfast. Mikki looked up from his plate and gave Fox a quick salute, which Fox returned with a smile before sitting down next to Krystal and Mikki. From the other side of the table where Jakob was sitting with Falco and John, Ghost thought that he could see a quick exchange of kisses between the two foxes. Falco suddenly grimaced. "Damn it, Fox! Can't you keep that to yourself?" he smirked.

"Very funny, Falco!" Fox retorted, albeit with a smile on his face. "Whatever you say, McCloud!" Falco grinned and started eating.

"So, is everyone ready for today?" Peppy said, as he entered the bridge with yet another plate filled with breakfast. As he heard Peppy's voice, Saber's head jerked to the side and looked Peppy straight in the eye.

"Come on! Give me that Coke! I know you've got it!" he shouted to the old hare. Peppy stood as if he was petrified for about two seconds, but then a warm smile crept onto his face. "Of course. You've really kept your eyes on our import papers, haven't you?" he said, to which John nodded.

Peppy went out into the kitchen again and returned with a bottle of Coca Cola a minute later. He threw it to Saber, who caught it with uncanny expertise and opened it with – so it seemed – a mere flick of the top against the edge of the table. As he greedily swallowed the brown liquid, Shield laughed and said to him "Still on the morning Coke, eh Saber?"

"You bet, and I'll never give it up!" John grinned and returned to his drinking.

"Hey, John, I don't mind that! I think it helps you to wake up a bit! And I think it's cool! _Very _cool!" Jakob said, and then began wolfing down his breakfast and coffee. As he was just about done, he heard a familiar voice sounding from his left.

"So, Jakob, shall we go?". He turned his head to find Krystal standing at his left with an expectant smile on her face. He quickly scoffed down the remaining food, and then slammed his fist into the table.

"Damn it! I hoped that I could eat faster than you for once, but you're always faster! How the devil do you do that?" he said wonderingly. "Well… That's a trade secret. Shall we get moving?" she said with a grin.

"What've you two got in mind now?" John asked in surprise as he finished drinking his Coke.

"Staff training. And I expect Krystal to spray me with a gigantic can of whoop-ass, but it'll be fun anyway! See you in a little while, guys!" Ghost said, and everyone waved to him and Krystal before the two of them walked out into the main corridor.

There was silence for a little while, and then Saber started laughing out loud. "Oh, man! I can't believe that he's actually going to try and fight with a staff. It requires so much technique. Leave the technical fights to me! I've known Jakob for quite some time, and let me tell you: He's the biggest technical idiot I have ever seen. He'll be whipped around in the arena before he knows what hit him!" And he collapsed onto the table, laughing.

The others also began to smile, until Slippy broke the laughter. He had returned to his seat at the control panel, and he could now see that someone wanted to talk to them on the holographic projector. And he could also clearly see who.  
"Fox, a transmission from general Pepper!" "Excellent, Slip! Put him through."

"Okay, Ghost. This'll be your weapon for today's melee combat training! I found it in the training weapons store." Krystal said, throwing a long, sleek silver staff to him. He weighed it in his hands a few moments and then turned to face her.

"Krystal, you do know that I've _never_ used one of these before, right?". She looked happily at him. "_That's_ what we're about to change!" she smiled and extended her own golden Cerinian staff.

Fifteen minutes passed, in which Krystal told him about and demonstrated everything he needed to know for now about various stances, swings, counter-attacks, fighting styles and so on. Finally, it was time to put all the good advice to practical use. Jakob was clad in his standard set of clothes when on a mission: A grey battledress, his black trenchcoat, black leather gloves and military boots. He had not brought his blasters and SMGs this time, because he wanted to be absolutely sure of the manoeuvres, without having to put up with extra weight. Krystal wore something made specifically for training, which looked like a short-sleeved white shirt with quite large and wide sleeves, and pants – also white – with wide trouser legs that billowed slightly with every step she took.

"Come on, Jakob, give it your best shot! I'm ready!" Krystal said to him. She then went into a defensive stance; her legs spread a bit away from each other, in order for her to get a better foothold, pointing her staff diagonally forwards while holding it with both hands.

"All right, then!" Ghost said briskly in return as he entered a more offensive stance, holding his staff behind him with his right hand while bending his left arm in front of him. "Let's see what you can do!"

He then took a couple of fast paces forward and quickly lunged at her, but she parried his attack with seemingly no effort and quickly landed a counter-swing squarely on the side of his head. Of course, since it was just training, it was not a particularly hard swing. He took a few steps back, but then tried to seem in control of the situation.

"That hardly left a mark! You'll have to try harder than that!" he laughed at Krystal, who smiled back at him before he went into the offensive again.

This time he tried with a series of swings and thrusts that followed each other in rapid succession. But because of Krystal's extreme skill with the staff, it seemed to him as if she only had to tilt it a little to deflect his incoming attacks. At least he drove her backwards, he thought to himself. Between the "_clank_"-sounds that came from parrying Jakob's attacks, Krystal laughed jokingly: "Oh my God! Ghost, is that the best you have? Because then you might as well give up now!"

"Hell no!" he shouted back and made a feint in the direction he needed. And, sure enough, the blue-furred vixen raised her staff to block the non-existent attack, which allowed him to get a free swing at her side and at the side of her head, just like she had done with him.

Krystal stood frozen for a couple of seconds and looked at him with a smile of amazement on her face. "Do you _really_ want to do this?" Ghost asked her contemptuously. Krystal answered by swinging her staff at him in a lightning fast attack move, but Jakob had just as fast raised his staff in front of him, and the two staffs, silver and golden, collided with a loud _clang_.

Now, the two combatants stood as fencers with crossed blades, desperately trying to push each other away. "Oh Krystal, that's pathetic! I _know_ you want to do this!"Jakobhissed at Krystal and put a bit more force into his push.

"That is, unless you're weak! You poor little vixen... So frail!" he growled with a sinister smile, trying to add a bit of atmosphere into the fight. The cerulean vixen just looked at him with an undeterminable glint in her eyes.

"I'm not weak. I'm just careful!" she replied before removing her staff from the lock and spinning out of the way. Jakob had not lessened the force in his push, and he was sent stumbling across the floor. Before he could regain his footing, Krystal had thrust the end of her staff into his stomach. As he gasped for air for a couple of seconds, she gracefully spun the golden staff around in her hand and swept his feet away from under him. He gave a surprised shout as he fell down.

As he was lying on the ground, Krystal came over and looked down at him. "Not bad. Not bad at all for a first try!" she smiled, and he smiled weakly in return.

"Let's get you on your feet.". She extended her hand to help him up, but he quickly made a sweeping motion with his right hand, in which he still held his staff, and swept her legs away from under her as well. She also gave a small shout as she fell and landed next to him.

There was silence, and then they both started to laugh out loud. "Okay, Jakob, I'll admit it. You tricked me there!" Krystal said with a wry smile on her face.

"Well, isn't that what this form of combat is all about? To trick and fool your adversary, so that you can get a free swing at him?" Jakob asked her.

"Exactly! You'll learn it someday, I'm sure. And you did well for now. Just try not to forget it, okay?" she said with a smile. He looked sincerely into her emerald eyes. "Krystal, when have I ever forgotten something you have taught me?"

"Are you serious, sir?" Fox asked general Pepper with a great amount of doubt in his voice. He could not believe what the general had just told him.

"Yes, Fox, I'm quite serious, and I've even had this confirmed by the Cornerian Intergalactic Research Agency. A dimensional rift has opened up somewhere in Lylat a few hours ago, but apparently it closed itself a couple of minutes after it opened, and the radiation signals from it are too weak by now to determine where it was exactly that it opened… or so the CIRA claims!" Pepper's hologram murmured from the holographic projector. Although he was an experienced leader of the Cornerian Army and had seen a great deal in his life, he did not trust the scientists at the CIRA fully, always suspecting them to hide something from him.

"But, with all due respect, sir, does it look like a _problem_? Because if it doesn't, then we're not going to waste valuable time off on something as screwy as that!" Falco said in his usual impatient manner.

"Rest assured, Falco!" Pepper replied "If we weren't concerned about this, we wouldn't have contacted you guys… Aren't we missing someone?" Pepper asked, when he noticed that Jakob and Krystal were absent.

"Don't worry, sir. Here we are!" Krystal said as she and Ghost entered the bridge.

"Ah, excellent! Commander!" Pepper called out.

"Sir?" Jakob asked.

"Am I right in assuming that you were to conduct a sweep of the nearby sectors today?" the general asked. "Yes, sir! That's quite correct." Ghost answered.

"Well, I'm ordering a mission redirect. Fox will be in charge on this one. Both teams, Star Fox and G-Wing, will conduct the sweep simultaneously. Seen in the light of the recent events with the dimensional rift, it would be foolish of me only to send one team. So, you sweep the area and report anything suspicious back to me. Understood?" Pepper asked authoritatively.

Mikki was the first one to answer: "Affirmative, General! And don't worry, sir. If some damned punks stand in our way, we're gonna crush 'em with everything we've got!" This statement was followed by John shortly afterwards:

"Hey, general, just leave this one to us, all right, sir? I'm sure that, if there are any enemies, they'll turn tail and run when they see that it's us! Hell, who wouldn't?" he grinned.

"OK, no radio signals in this quadrant, and everything else looks normal. Prepare to move out to the next quadrant, squad!" Fox droned monotonously into the comlink. So far they had searched almost every quadrant in the immediate vicinity, and there had been nothing to see except the black void of space sparkling with stars. All in all, very boring; this was the reason for Fox sounding so unenthusiastic. But as they all activated the afterburners on their Arwings and sped on through hyperspace, they had no idea about what they would be facing at their destination.

The first thing they noticed when the insane speed returned to normal was the frigate. It was a long, white Cornerian frigate that desperately struggled to shake off some opposition. This opposition consisted of five slim, copper-painted fighters with reddish windows. These ships were armed with rapid-firing cannons that spurted purple plasma-projectiles all over the frigate. Furthermore, they were moving at so fast a pace that the automated turret defences on the frigate could hardly keep them in their sights for long.

"Attention, incoming fighter patrol, this is the Cornerian frigate _The Vanquisher_. We're under heavy fire, our shields are down, and we have sustained critical damage. We don't know how much longer we can keep them at bay. Please, we need assistance!" the frigate commander squealed into the comlink.

Fox's eyes flared with anger for one second, and then he yelled into the radio. "All fighters, move in!". Before the roar from the afterburners deafened everyone, John could have sworn that he had heard Shield mumble "Finally! Some action!". But as the Arwings entered the fray, something happened that they could not have predicted.

The five attacking fighters turned away from the frigate, disengaged their engines and hung idly in space. Suddenly, the area around each fighter seemed to be rendered with invisible waves of energy, making each ship wobble slightly, and seemingly out of nowhere, an exact solid copy of each fighter had suddenly materialized, so that there were now ten attackers. Five fighters chased after the Arwings, the other five continued to pummel the frigate with plasma charges.

As Jakob instinctively dodged their attacks, he thought to himself: "It's like being in a fucking hall of mirrors. Wherever you look, there's always an exact copy of yourself looking back at you. But the difference is that in this hall of mirrors, the copies don't just look back at you; they also try to kill you.".

His train of thought was interrupted when Falco shouted over the radio "_Dang!_ I took a hit! And where the hell did all the others come from? A cloaking mechanism?"  
"No, I don't think so." Fox replied, before his ship was also hit by a plasma bolt. "But this isn't the time to think about that. We've got a ship to protect, everyone. Return fire!"

Meanwhile, on a planet blackened by the fumes of industry and war, far away from the Lylat System, a large black tower that jutted out from the scorched earth was bustling with activity. Humanoids were running around frantically in the corridors, trying to reach their destinations in time. It was plain to see that they were not real humans. Their limbs were longer and thinner and their heads more egg-plant like in appearance. Their skin was also vaguely fluorescent and purple. Most of the creatures were dressed in lab coats, giving an impression of a weird army of scientists.

One of these creatures strode purposefully through the corridors. He – for one could clearly see it was a male – was wearing a green cloak adorned with golden ribbons over his lab coat. He was built just like the other humanoid aliens who roamed this base, but his eyes were strikingly different. They were a sparkling aquamarine, but at the same time they emanated such coldness and so little interest in the life and well-being of others, that other aliens involuntarily got out of his way and shivered a little bit as he passed by. And they were right in doing just that, for this particular alien had built up a reputation of being cruel and sinister, feeling absolutely no remorse for his actions, even if they involved the pain of someone, who was not directly involved. This emotional cold seemed to emanate from him as a kind of eerie aura. Finally, the alien with the cloak found an elevator and rode it to the top floor of the compound.

The room he stepped into was dark, circular and narrow. A segment of the wall was filled with screens, where the viewer could see pictures from different surveillance cameras, which were placed at various locations around the base. The only light in the room was that which originated from the screens. A large chair was placed in front of the screens and someone was sitting in it. If the alien did not know his superior, he would have a hard time trying to see him, for the person in the chair had turned his back upon the entrance to his room. The only part of the person in the chair that was visible was his left hand, which rested on the armrest and was illuminated by the screens. But that was also enough to reveal a certain trademark about its owner: The hand was covered with blue fur.

"So, Ki'Lek, how is the operation in the Lylat System coming along?" the person in the chair asked softly, without turning the chair to face his guest. The alien with the cloak replied in a rasping, but yet elegant, voice, with a tinge of a British accent:

"Exactly as you wanted it to. We finally got the dimensional rift into the Lylat System functioning this morning, and we immediately deployed our first squadron of Split-Fighters. The duplicating mechanisms in the fighters have also proved to work just as we wanted, I might add; we've just received affirmative reports about it from their onboard computers."

"We programmed them to keep out of sight until the time you had said to us. Then, we programmed them to find and destroy a target of significant value to the Cornerian Fleet as a diversion. We wanted to be absolutely sure that Corneria's most effective fighter teams, Star Fox and G-Wing, were occupied somewhere else. Knowing the nature of general Pepper, based on what you have managed to learn about him, he would be far too nervous about a dimensional rift to send anyone other than his finest teams to check it out. The rest of the Cornerian Fleet is no match for our Split-Fighters. However, I don't think that it would be wise to destroy the entire fleet, only as much as we need to gain control of Corneria. Then they still have something to bargain with. But, if I may enquire: What if they manage to capture one of our fighters? Will they have enough evidence to be able to launch a counter-attack?"

From the shadows of the chair came a soft, contemptuous laughter, and then the figure spoke again. "You need not worry, Ki'Lek. The technology of your race will appear absolutely grotesque in the eyes of the Cornerians… and I don't mean grotesque as in really primitive but more like… scary and unconventional. They'll be too appalled at it to investigate it further… and besides, they won't have time to act before our troops have seized their capital. How about them, by the way?"

"The last Exterminator-specimens have just completed field training and have even surpassed our expectations." Ki'Lek promptly answered. "They are all ready to move out at your command. And just another question: This girl Krystal, whom you speak of. You mention that she is truly a skilled warrior. If that is the case, can I then have her for my next experiments in bio-engineering? She would be a wonderful asset to my plan of creating the perfect warrior. The Exterminators are nothing when compared to what this final experiment will yield!"

"No!" the figure at once snapped from the shadowy darkness, and just at that moment, Ki'Lek felt it as if the darkness, in which the figure was shrouded, represented his true state of mind. Dark, obscure and malicious. "Krystal is mine! And no-one other's! I have a score to settle with that fake-blooded whore. An inherent score, Ki'Lek!" he shouted out, seemingly in anger. He paused, and as he spoke again, his voice was calm, cold and soft like before: "Are we clear?"

The alien scientist bowed gracefully, and then fixed his stone-cold eyes on the chair. "If I may be so obnoxious as to answer with a pun, then I'll say: Are we clear?" he paused for dramatic effect "Crystal!" he finished coldly.  
The figure in the chair heaved a deep sigh. "Good. Excellent. You've done your job well, my trusted friend.". And then it seemed as if the mysterious person lost himself in thought.

"One and a half years of exile." he mumbled. "All because the pitiful and cowardly Cornerian Government denied hearing my prayers. I came from a planet devastated by a monstrosity… and yet they wouldn't let me stay. I talked to Pepper about it for many months, hoping that my story would change his mind. However, it was in the end Pepper himself who gave the order to banish me. But he made one fatal mistake. Oh, yes, he did. He underestimated me. He thought I was doomed, when they sent me out roaming the galaxy on my own. But I'm a survivor, yes indeed… For I have the staff… Yes, the other staff… I used its power and I found you and your race, Ki'Lek. And you took me in. For that I am ever thankful… I'll certainly not wait for the Cornerian Government to apologize, nor will I listen to their prayers before I break their necks with this staff…".

At the end of his rant, the voice of the shadowy figure had become nothing more than a faint whisper, and Ki'Lek decided with himself that it would probably be best if he left. As he reached the elevator doors, he heard the person in the chair calling out to him.

"Oh, and Ki'Lek… !" He turned around and looked at the shadowy chair. "We do not limit ourselves to eliminating just the males of the Cornerian population when we seize control of Corneria and send a message to its people, now do we?"

He had searched his soul to find the slightest bit of remorse, pity, or any other feeling that could possibly make him change his mind for the worse. But to his joy, he found none, and as such, Ki'Lek hesitated only for one second before replying "Of course not… sir.". Then the alien with the cloak turned around and went through the elevator doors, which instantly closed behind him.


	12. Chapter 11: A Place of Grief and Woe

**Chapter 11: A Place of Grief and Woe ****  
**  
From Peppy's log: _Well, since the teams are out for now, I'll fill out a log entry. Nothing really happens on the Great Fox when everybody has left. I'm just anxious to hear what they have experienced when they get back home. __  
_  
"Someone, get this guy off of me!" Slippy yelled in panic as he turned sharply to shake one of the Split-Fighters off his tail.

"Don't worry, frog-boy. I've got it!" Falco smirked, as he lined his Arwing up behind Slippy's and unleashed a barrage of laser fire upon the copper-coloured craft. But surprisingly enough, its hull seemed to last, though it did succumb when Fox joined the attack. The Split-Fighter was blown to tiny pieces in a large explosion.

Both teams had fought gallantly for a long time now, but because of the sturdiness of the fighters, they had only taken four of them out. Six of them were still left, and they completely turned their attention away from the Arwings and towards the frigate. John noticed this, but unfortunately, it was just a moment too late. The teams had been too focused on saving their own hides, so that they had not seen this coming. And now, the consequences of that self-centeredness would unveil themselves before their very eyes.

"Dudes…" Saber asked nervously over the comlink "is anyone keeping an eye on that frigate?"

And just as he had finished his sentence, the area in front of the teams was illuminated by the purple light of several plasma charges, which collided with the hull of the frigate with an ominous crackling sound. Fox and the others could do nothing but watch passively in horror, as the entire frigate was enveloped in a gigantic fireball.

The last thing they heard from the commander was a desperate shout sent over the comlink, obscured by static. "What the hell? Oh my God, _NOOOOO!..._"

At the same time as Star Fox and G-Wing were fighting the lone Split-Fighters far away from Corneria, a rather disturbing signal appeared on the radar screens of the fighters and cruisers, which were stationed as a defence force around Corneria's perimeter in space. Hundreds, if not thousands, of fighter signatures were approaching fast from a nearby cluster of stars. And as they came into sight, each and every one of the Cornerian troops knew that they would be fighting a losing battle.

A gigantic copper-coloured mass of Split-Fighters seemed to plough its way through space. As it came closer to the planet, the multitude of fighters seemed to divide itself, so that the wide belt of fighters ensnared the planet in a circle, effectively preventing any surprise attacks from the ships on the other side. And as it reached a distance not far from Corneria's outer defence group, the only thing that preceded it was the massive purple wall of plasma fire that was created when all the Split-Fighters fired simultaneously.

Many of the smaller Cornerian ships were completely obliterated by this first wave of energy, and the ones that still stood their ground, such as some of the heavier cruisers, were left drifting around in space, very badly damaged and not at all capable of putting up a fight. Of course, some of the Split-Fighters perished due to the laser that some of the cruisers had time to fire before their destruction, but the ones that were lost were easily duplicated from some of the other fighters. And thus, in one swift and stunning move, the outer Cornerian defence was crippled and taken completely by surprise, outnumbered and outgunned, and the rest of the alien troops realized that this was their time to enter.

With heavy fighter support, a number of large, triangular stingray-shaped cruisers and drop ships, also copper in colour, began appearing from the cluster of stars where Ki'Lek and his scientists had chosen to open the dimensional rift. Its radiation signals would be easily camouflaged because of the high background radiation in this cluster. Slowly, but steadily, the vast army made its way towards its intended target on the surface: Corneria City.

On the bridge of one of the cruisers, Ki'Lek had just appeared through the door, and he was now referring the combat data, which the onboard computers in the Split-Fighters had collected, to his superior. The mysterious person was wearing a long, magenta robe with a hood that covered his face. But when he turned his head to speak, one could see his muzzle, which was covered by white fur, albeit with a tinge of cerulean. The robe was decorated with many old-looking and mysterious symbols, each of them coloured white. In one of his blue-furred hands, he was holding a long staff, which was azure in colour, but it had a peculiar form. It seemed to coil around and into itself, so that it resembled something like a misshapen icicle.

"Sir, our contingent of Split-Fighters has successfully engaged and destroyed the outer Cornerian defences. Although most of the ships were eliminated, there may still be some badly damaged ones floating around, but they won't pose a threat. We expect to meet stronger resistance when we descend onto the planet. Our losses here were absolutely minimal.", Ki'Lek announced triumphantly. "Now, I assume that you want me to program the fighters to form a planet-wide pattern and eliminate all opposition?"

The hooded figure raised his free hand to keep Ki'Lek from leaving, and spoke in his dangerously soft voice: "No, Ki'Lek. I have envisioned this quite differently. Apart from a few squadrons, which will be sent around on the planet to do some reconnaissance, send all fighters against Corneria City and concentrate the available firepower on this target. The entire city must be blanketed. In the ensuing inferno, deploy the Exterminators. Place six squads in each of the housing quadrants of the city, but focus the majority on the city centre, where the government and army base are located. This way, we can cripple the entire planet with one crushing blow. You will see soon enough, Ki'Lek, that when Corneria is without its brilliant bastion, Corneria City, the rest of the planet will not dare to oppose us, simply because they fear to suffer the same gruesome fate as their _despicable, xenophobic capital!_"

Throughout his speech, the figure had raised his voice, so that he shouted the last part out in anger. He virtually felt it as if his very soul were set ablaze with the withering flames of anger and rage when he thought about the Cornerians and the misdeed that they had committed by banishing him. But he calmed down, turned his head a little and asked quietly and in a controlled voice: "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Ki'Lek answered and hurried away from the bridge. Not much frightened the alien, but one thing that did chill him to the core was the unpredictable nature of his superior. And since Ki'Lek was considered the embodiment of malice among his race, he had to admit to himself that the malice, which emanated from his mysterious superior, was a hundred times stronger, if it could frighten him. Feeling angst and nervousness tearing away at his soul, Ki'Lek concluded with himself that he was not particularly fond of that thought.

In the blink of an eye, Corneria City had changed: From being a bustling, state-of-the-art metropolis that offered just about anything that the heart desired, it was now a place laid in ruins, a desolate city where it seemed like no hope existed. And so it was. Hope was already gone, blown away on the wind, much like the black smoke that billowed from the city's gaping wounds: Cracks in the ground, buildings and so forth.

The initial strike by the Split-Fighters had taken virtually the entire city by surprise. Many of the residents, who were just walking around lazily in the city streets, had looked wonderingly to the sky as the copper-coloured armada had closed in on the city from above, their hulls gleaming in the sunlight. But when they opened fire, the Cornerians started to run around in panic like confused ants, which was unfortunately to no avail, since the number of casualties after this first strike was quite high. Many Cornerians were lying dead or maimed in the city streets, ripped apart by the plasma charges that had been fired upon the city in close proximity to one another, giving the impression of a purple rain of death.

The Split-Fighters had then targeted the military radar installations, in order to keep the Cornerian Army from reacting swiftly. However, for those who had managed to survive the first attack, either by staying indoors at a secure location or simply by a mere stroke of luck, the nightmare had just begun.

This was the case with two young ferrets, who were apparently a couple. They slowly got up from the container that they had sought refuge in when the Split-Fighters had bombarded the city. The container was located in an alley, so it was a bit out of the way. After making sure that the coast was clear, the male ferret grabbed his girlfriend by the paw, and together they ran out of the alley and out into the open. As they got out onto one of the larger streets, they stood still, completely horrified, and watched the newest addition to the scourge that plagued Corneria reveal itself in front of them.

One of the stingray-shaped drop ships had landed on the street and extended a ramp. Down from this ramp marched twenty of the most hideous creatures the ferrets had ever seen. They appeared to be constructed from alien body parts of different sizes, but with one common characteristic: Their skin was vaguely fluorescent and purple. Where they had no skin, polished metal and machinery could be seen shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. Although a few of them deviated from this, they all seemed to have been constructed according to a default design: The lower part of their legs was a mixture of wires coated with metal plating, which led down to their feet. They were replaced with massive steel claws that _clank_'ed with every step they took.

Their hands had also been amputated to make way for two devastating weapons: A metal fist with an electrical current running through it on their left arm, and a rapid-firing laser cannon on their right. Their heads were encased in something that looked like brightly polished metal domes, which were drilled into their temples. In one flash of logic thought, the ferrets assumed that this was their kind of helmet. The eyes of these cybernetic horrors were vacant and hazy, as if they were not in complete control of their own will but awaited further orders from someone else. Gruesome demons of death, standing on parade, ready to do their Lord's bidding.

As the first team of twenty had marched down the ramp, another team – also twenty – exited the drop ship and stood in a structured group next to the others. Only after the sixth group had exited the ship, no more of them came. Instead, the person clad in the magenta robe and carrying the blue staff came out on the ramp and eyed the two ferrets coldly from under his hood, his emerald eyes gleaming with a sinister sharpness and coldness, like bright, but cold, stars on a winter's night.

"Hello, lowly citizens of the capitalistic Corneria!" he said menacingly and stepped a bit further down the ramp.

The eyes of the male ferret went wide as he figured out just what this person was presumably responsible for. "You… you fraternize with these invaders! You've given them the order to strike!" he shouted in a state of uncontrollable anger, tears spurting from his eyes. Without thinking about what he did, he dashed towards the hooded figure, rage clouding his mind like a red haze, effectively preventing him from thinking any logical thoughts.

But the figure just made a tiny motion with his hand, and before the male ferret could react, one of the cyborgs had clamped its electronic fist around his jaw, lifted him a few feet above the ground and activated the electrical currents on full power. Between the crackling of electricity and the screams of her dying boyfriend, the female ferret could hear the mysterious person shout:

"Meet the Exterminators, my friend! Totally obedient troops, enhanced with cybernetic implants. Some of them have been created with a bit of tissue from the dead to replace some of the tissue we damaged during our initial operations, but they don't seem to mind. Especially because we've surgically implanted a restraining device into their brain, which keeps them from going completely berserk and being influenced by their emotions. They're all under the control of a central computer, which we use to program their actions and behavioural patterns. If this computer was destroyed, they would all just be mindless piles of metal and flesh.".

As he had finished his monologue, the Exterminator that held the male ferret suspended in its electrical grip threw him away. He rolled limply across the ground, gave off a few last twitches and then laid completely still, smoke rising from his body. As the female ferret bent down to examine the dead body of her boyfriend, it seemed to her as if the figure on the ramp let out a light, soft chuckle. She looked up at the hooded figure, finding herself in a state of immense, heartrending, emotional agony, tears of anger, sadness and despair welling up in her eyes.

"What have we done wrong to deserve this?" she shouted, "And why are you telling me all that!".

Upon hearing this, the figure whirled around and pointed at the ferret with a blue-furred finger. "_You_ and all of your _filthy_ and _misbegotten_ comrades have aided in the construction of this capitalistic and xenophobic society, my dear pathetic low-life!" he roared wildly, "The time has finally come for me to pay this society back… in spades! And I'm telling you this because you won't have a chance to spread the knowledge. I believe that you're eager to reunite with your love, am I right?".

He motioned for some of his Exterminators to go to the ferret. One of them looked at him with its vacant eyes. "What are your orders, sir?" it rasped monotonously.

"Kill her." the hooded figure replied calmly before boarding his drop ship and taking off to reach another destination.

The Exterminators reached the ferret, and while one of them forced her on her knees with its fist clamped tightly around her neck, another one put its laser cannon to the back of her head. The ferret was now crying uncontrollably. "Please… please no!" she sobbed pleadingly, and although her eyes were closed, she could still see the images of her dead boyfriend flashing before her eyes.

There was no remorse to be found. No pity. The laser cannon flashed red once, its colour almost an exact replica of the innocent blood, which had been spilled this day. And now there were two more bodies lying in the street.

"Goddamn it! How could we let this happen?" Fox shouted angrily into the comlink as he spun out of the way of Krystal, who flittered past him in pursuit of one of the enemies.

"The Cornerian Fleet has just lost a valuable ship, and we're still struggling with the attackers! We've apparently had so much spare time that Team Star Fox is beginning to lose its grip on things. We can always talk about that. For now, guys: Show no mercy. Take these suckers _out!_" Fox ended his transmission with that, feeling that he had made his point quite clear.

And he had, for everyone seemed to snap out of the gloomy mood that they were in after the frigate was destroyed. John immediately locked on to a nearby enemy and began screaming "_Die!_" over the radio, while bombarding the ship with laser fire. Since that did not seem to make a single dent in the hull, he tried with a Nova-bomb, just when another Split-Fighter passed by. And that did help. Both fighters were blown to smithereens by the silent blue explosion.

The four remaining fighters disengaged their engines again and hung idly in space. And just like before, the area around them was rendered with invisible energy, creating a field of distortion around them. And suddenly, there were eight Split-Fighters which engaged the two teams.

"We can't do this on our own! We need backup! I'm going to call the Great Fox. Cover me while I send the transmission!" Ghost shouted out. Immediately, his ship was flanked by Shield and Saber, who did their best to keep the fighters away from him. Just before the transmission was sent, he could hear Mikki hiss angrily over the radio "Oh my God, I wish they would stop doing that cloning shit!" Jakob turned his attention away from the fight and concentrated on sending the transmission.

"Attention, Great Fox, or rather Peppy, this is Ghost. We're hopelessly outnumbered here. Our enemies have adopted some kind of cloning technology, and there's nothing we can do about it. We need help, and fast!" he said into the comlink.

"Roger that, I'm on my way!" Peppy replied calmly. Thirty seconds passed, and there was still no sign of the Great Fox. Slippy began to wonder if their engines had run out of fuel cells, until a large white form jumped out of hyperspace right next to them.

"All Arwings, clear the area! Deploying EMP-charge now!" Peppy informed over the radio.

"Follow my lead!" Fox shouted and sped away from the immediate vicinity of the Split-Fighters with his afterburners on full capacity. He was followed closely by the others. From a safe distance, they watched as a little blue glowing sphere was shot out from a tube just between the Great Fox's hyper laser cannons. It flew right into the group of Split-Fighters, which had huddled together, and exploded, sending a blue crackling shockwave out in a large radius, like a silent, electrical mini-supernova.

When the shockwave subsided, one could see the Split-Fighters hanging idly in space, but this was not because they were preparing to clone themselves, but simply because they had been stunned completely by the electromagnetic pulse. Blue sparks of electricity, which originated from the fried circuits within the fighters, could be seen on the hull.

There was silence for a long time, until Shield broke it. "Dude! That was ingenious! Why the hell didn't _we_ think of that?"

"Well… " Peppy responded with a grin "You guys don't have EMP-charges. And also, it seems that I'm just a little bit cleverer than you, because I did this in the end! Nah, just joking. And don't worry about the fighters. That EMP-charge will keep them stunned for 12 hours!.

Before more friendly chatter could flourish, Fox interrupted. "Okay, guys… Destroy all of them!"

"Well, Fox…" Krystal said "I think that we should keep one alive and tractor it onboard the Great Fox for further studies!"

Fox gave this some thought and responded shortly afterwards: "You're right, Krys. All right, destroy seven of them. Hey, that leaves one for each of us! Pick your targets and get to it!" Fox murmured, his mind clouded by anger and rage because of the frigate they had not been able to protect. All the Arwings flew a bit away from the group of Split-Fighters, made a swoop and headed straight back for them, whereupon they fired their lasers one single time as each of them came into firing distance of their target. The seven Split-Fighters blew up simultaneously.

The ensuing silence was broken by Krystal's remark over the radio: "Fox… What have we just done? That was… a regular execution. We're not better than them at all." she said quietly as the truth struck her.

"I don't really think so, Krystal." Jakob mumbled, seemingly lost in thought. "Take a look at that cockpit. It's very small and round. What kind of pilot is supposed to fit in there?".

Fox ended the matter with authority. "Well, we'll find out soon. Peppy, activate the tractor beam and get that fighter into the hangar. And for the record, we want to land there as well!" he grinned.

"Affirmative!" Peppy responded as he opened the doors to the hangar bay. The Arwings floated inside along with the captured Split-Fighter.

When everyone had exited their ships, they approached the alien fighter slowly and with their weapons drawn. The Star Fox Team carried blasters, and G-Wing provided them with some good cover. Shield had his plasma Gatling-gun at the ready, Saber had drawn Ragetooth and pointed it straight towards the ship, and Ghost had both his blasters out, his fingers resting softly on the triggers, so that he was ready to fire.

"Attention, pilot! This is Fox McCloud of the Star Fox Team, and Team G-Wing is also here. We have your craft covered and there's no chance of escaping. Open your cockpit and come out slowly with your hands behind your head!" Fox shouted to the alien craft. Several minutes passed, and Fox repeated his order, but nothing happened. Mikki took the initiative and slowly walked closer to the fighter with his Gatling-gun ready to fire, which provoked a compassionate "Be careful, Mikki!" from Krystal.

He turned around and gave her a wide smile and a "thumbs up" with the hand he was not holding his Gatling-gun with, before continuing towards the damaged fighter, holding his gun with two hands again. "Krystal has a thing for using peoples' real names instead of their code names. Oh well, I guess that's just her. Plus, it's not like it's compromising for anyone!" he thought to himself before stopping right outside the cockpit.

It was indeed very small and round, way too small to fit any decently sized human – or Lylatian, for that matter – and it certainly did not look like much as it sat there at the front of the massive copper-coloured shape. Shield saw that the cockpit could be opened and decided to give it a try. "Have a nice day… you frigging idiot!" he whispered before opening the cockpit swiftly and suddenly, as if to capture the hostile pilot within by surprise.

A moment later, the others saw him turn around with a very grave expression on his face. "Dudes… I think that all of you should see this." he said seriously, and it was clear that he was not joking. Slowly, the others gathered around the now open cockpit. And everyone stood their ground when they looked into it. Even Slippy, who was by far estimated to be the most squeamish on the team, did not flinch.

The cockpit was nothing more than a power conduit and guidance system for the entire ship. But what was so extraordinary about it was that it was, in some way, living. Hooked up to various computer consoles with some wires and diodes plunged deep into it, the teams could clearly see a pulsating heart. It was still being manipulated by the haywire electrical circuits of the Split-Fighter, but it could never fly again. How this fighter could duplicate itself was a mystery yet to be solved. The two teams (excluding Peppy, who was still on the bridge) eyed this peculiar phenomenon for quite some time. Then John turned to Krystal with a wry smile on his face.

"You see, Krys? What happened before wasn't an execution. I mean, just _look_ at that thing! It isn't at all aware of what it's doing! It's being controlled by electrical impulses from that computer terminal here. So you see, nothing to worry about!" he said comfortingly to her and pointed inside the cockpit to a rather large computer with large wires running from it and into the heart. The commands on the screen were written in code, so they could not understand any of it.

The cerulean vixen looked at what he showed her, and then she nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. You've actually brought peace to my mind there. Thanks, John!" she smiled.

"Hey, no problem, I'm here to help!" he said proudly. Then, he turned to Ghost, who was completely absorbed in studying some of the canisters and containers, which were hooked up to the computers as well.

"Hey, Ghost, _I_ helped your partner out for once. How do you feel about _that?_" John asked provocatively. "Of course…" Jakob mumbled absently, and Saber turned to the others with a triumphant smile.

"See? I _knew_ he wouldn't mind!" But he was rather taken aback when Ghost continued talking to himself, tracing lines in the air with his finger as he spoke.

"A heart as a power source? How peculiar!" he chuckled in his usual British way before continuing "But if that goes there, and this is anti-matter, how can this… Hmmmm… Unless… _this_ is the mitosis device and _that_ is…" His train of thought was interrupted by Falco.

"Hey, Einstein, how about sharing your thoughts with us? The Cornerian Army must've made you a commander for a reason, and if it wasn't for your brains, then I don't see what for!" he smirked. Jakob turned around and started explaining, while showing the canisters and devices that he was talking about to the others as he explained. The energetic tone in which he spoke, combined with his accent and the light of eagerness that shone in his eyes as he explained his theory and laid forth the clues and facts, gave him an almost Sherlock Holmes-ish appearance.

"Well, I've been studying the interior of this cockpit, and I think that I've found out how they duplicate. This is a device filled with anti-matter" he showed the long, slim container to the others "which is connected to the heart via this tube. Yes, it sounds unbelievable, but so it is. I could tell from this icon."

He pointed to an icon on the side of the container that showed a little drop hitting the floor followed by a giant explosion. "But somehow, whoever created this has managed to block the anti-matter from reaching the heart with a little blocking…" he searched for the word, but gave up shortly afterwards "…_thing_ inside the tube. As far as I know, nothing we have can block anti-matter; even producing anti-matter is an extremely difficult and resource-consuming process at our current level of technology and physics, so we must be dealing with a very advanced level of technology here."

"Now, when the ship is told to clone itself, the anti-matter is released into the heart. Ordinary matter and anti-matter cannot exist at the same spot in the universe, or anywhere else for that matter, so they'll try to split apart. Usually, this "union" of matter and anti-matter will result in a very violent reaction, called an annihilation, since the two substances technically annihilate each other, hence the name. And doing so releases quite a lot of energy. Therefore, an annihilation will mostly occur as a powerful explosion of varying size and shape, depending on the amount of matter and anti-matter, which is reacting. And thus, because of this annihilation, the ship will also be split in two... but it _won't go to waste! _How do I deduce this? Simple!"

"For over _here_…" he pointed to a black canister with a picture on the outside that indicated extreme radiation "… we have a canister filled with tachyons. Some would call them hypothetical elementary particles, but I think this proves quite realistically that they exist. Tachyons are assumed to have a reverse perception of time, which means that time will travel backwards in their presence. "

"Now, I don't claim to be a physicist specialised in the space-time-continuum, but I think that it's safe to assume that if these tachyons were energized, they would create a relatively stable and local black hole because of their ability to bend time, gravity and mass… and that would also produce a lot of radiation, hence that picture on the side. But because of the tachyon's ability to bend time, the black hole will not end up being a gravitational well, as is the case with normal black holes, but most likely a dimensional tunnel of sorts."

"This black "time-hole" can transport the other part of this newly split ship to a spot right next to the old one. I think that was the distortion we saw. And finally…" he pointed to a small device that was also hooked up to theheart and various computers, and bore a picture of cells splitting "… we have a machine responsible for proper mitosis, or cell division as some call it. This makes sure that every single cell and molecule, both of the ship and of the controlling heart, is split correctly during the annihilation, so that a completely identical copy of the old ship is transferred through the local black "time"-hole, only to reappear as an exact copy of the old one a second later. And that's it!" he finished.

The others stared at him questioningly for a long time, trying to make some sense out of his theory. He started to feel uneasy because of their continuous stares, feeling their gazes tearing away at his conscience, demanding more reason than what he had just given them. It irked him personally that he could not explain a bit deeper sometimes, but when he put forth an idea, hypothesis or theory, it was just hard for him to stop and reflect about it. He was caught in the moment, like a poet writing a poem on a whim. As Ghost could finally take it no more, he said enquiringly "What? I just looked at the symbols!"

"We have to tell Pepper that he has lost one of his cruisers. I know it's never fun to report a failure, but it must be done!" Fox said determinedly as they all marched toward the control room "And we must remember to tell him that, should he encounter any of these fighters, he should focus on taking the cockpit out. Then they won't be able to fly or duplicate themselves!".

As they went, Shield seemed to lose himself in thought. "It's weird to think about, isn't it?" he asked Saber and Ghost, who asked him what he was talking about.

"I mean, just the thought that there could be hundreds of hearts floating around out there in their pimped-up copper fighters, with the sole purpose "shoot to kill"…" he mumbled thoughtfully, to which John added "And multiply… but not in the funny way!"

Jakob nodded and stared out of the window into the black void of space as they went. "Yeah, that's weird. But I know something that's even weirder than that thought, something I blame myself utterly for. And because of this, I can understand why I'm probably useless most of the time on G-Wing: The thing about the fighter and its duplicating. There I go again! That's just Ghost in a nutshell! Every time I see the slightest bit of something that involves science or mystery, I instantly try to come up with an explanation for it, however far out it may seem. And I never stop until I've finished. When I do it, I never think about that people are actually taking what I'm saying into consideration, and it's only afterwards that I realize it was way too weird to make any sense, like the thing with the fighter before. And, what's even more embarrassing, that whole "Cerinia hypothesis"-thing that I told Krystal before our mission to Orakar-5."

"I never told her when we were down there, but I was so afraid that I was wrong, and that we had gone through all that pain just for nothing. She gave me some facts, and I tried to derive the most plausible explanation from them that I could. Maybe I would be better off without her, so that I wouldn't have to worry about getting her death on my conscience. And also my "commanding the team"-thing before we went to Daytin… Damn me for being so egoistic!"

At this point, his voice started to tremble a little, and all the others had also turned their heads and were now looking at him. "Yes, now I've said it. I'm flawed in that way, and I know it. I understand if you hate and despise me now, Mikki and John, and all the Star Fox guys as well, but I just had to say it…"

_"_Shut up with that "hate me"-thing, okay!_"_ Saber yelled "You're driving me insane with it! It's sure as Hell that you aren't useless!"

"Hey, I know for one that you haven't failed me!" Shield chimed in.

Krystal also approached Ghost carefully, placing both of her hands comfortingly on his shoulders while looking him straight in the eye. "We trust each other with our _lives_, Jakob, and so far we haven't wasted them. You've never failed me or anyone else here. You're very dear to me, just like Fox, and you're one of my closest friends. And I can say that without blinking, after having spent six months in your company, working with you in the field, or training or talking with you here onboard the Great Fox. Quite frankly, as a military duo, I think we suit each other! I won't let the flourishing friendship that we're sharing wither just like that!" she said determinedly.

After this rather emotional intermezzo, the entire corridor was completely quiet, until Fox raised his voice. "Krystal's right. You've never failed any of us. And we _do_ appreciate you! I think your theory made perfect sense. Just keep a sharp eye on my girl and make sure she's safe, all right?" he said with a grin.

"Don't worry, Fox. I'll always do that. You can bet your life on it!" Jakob said sincerely and returned the smile, but then raised his voice. "Now, let's get that message to Pepper. C'mon, move it Fox, we haven't got all day!" he laughed. And so, they continued towards the bridge, but what they would hear there would soon end their urge to laugh.

As they all entered the bridge, they saw that Pepper's image had already appeared on the holoscreen that was situated on the wall. He looked glumly at the teams as they entered. Peppy also faced the teams, looking grim.

"General" Fox said, giving him a quick salute before continuing "I am sorry to have to inform you that the cruiser _The Vanquisher_ from the Cornerian Fleet was destroyed in an ambush today. We, both Star Fox and G-Wing, tried to foil the enemy's attempts, but we let our guard down for too long. I'm sorry, sir!" he said, sadness sneaking into his voice. But in the innermost core of his soul, Fox was ashamed. Ashamed that the always effective Star Fox Team had failed so miserably, even with backup, and he could not prevent that shame from putting a black, obscuring veil across his mind.

Pepper said nothing; he just maintained his grave expression. Finally, he heaved a sigh and said gloomily: "That… is of the slightest importance now. I'm sorry if I'm sounding brutal. I know that there were Lylatians onboard that cruiser and you tried to defend them, but those casualties are nothing compared to what we're facing here on Corneria."

Falco suddenly chimed in. "What? Casualties on Corneria? I know we're far away from it at the moment, but as far as I know, a war hasn't started or anything like that!"

Pepper eyed him coolly before replying. "It isn't a war, Falco… it's an invasion… and a slaughter!"

With that, he transmitted pictures from the wide network of small surveillance cameras, which were placed in Corneria City. These made it possible for the army and law-enforcement agencies to see if crimes were on the rise and effectively stop them before they escalated. However, the alien force had attacked so swiftly and massively that they had not had a chance to prevent it before it was too late. The pictures showed once beautiful parks and shopping quarters in Corneria City completely devastated, scorched and burnt out. The streets were littered with the dead bodies of many hundred Cornerians, and weird disfigured and robotic shapes – the Exterminators – roamed the city streets. Somehow, the blood-red, crimson sunset that filled the horizon fitted the scene perfectly.

A thunderclap of silence struck the bridge for several mioments while the pictures changed on the screen. Heavy with the weight of sorrow and loss, these moments seemed to last for an eternity. Only when the pictures had stopped and Pepper's face returned, Ghost shook his head silently in horror and quietly mumbled "Oh man… oh man, oh man, oh man…!"

"This is our situation at the moment!" Pepper stated firmly. "The whole dimensional rift/cruiser-thing was apparently meant as a diversion to lure you away from the planet. Our outer defences have been decimated, and the invaders have most of the city in their grasp. The citizens who survived the initial attack have apparently become anarchists, for they roam the streets recklessly, plundering what they can. But since you are still alive and well, there's still a glimmer of hope."

"Teams Star Fox and G-Wing: I hereby order you to return to Corneria, rid it of the invaders and re-take control. You are authorized to use any means necessary. And I mean _any means!_" the general emphasized. "I know it might sound like an impossible mission, but then again, you've always come out of seemingly impossible missions just fine, so I very much doubt that you should fail me this time around!" Pepper said with a wry, albeit sorrowful, smile on his face.

"Just a moment, sir!" Krystal said "As I saw those pictures, I was reminded of an old prophecy that my father told me on Cerinia, and it has always nagged my mind since then. It goes like this:

"When in a city of mourning  
a place of grief and woe  
your brother since time's very dawning  
turns out to be your foe

you must make him pay both high and low  
for the damage that he has dealt  
you must deliver that fatal blow  
which causes his cold heart to melt"

Krystal resumed her story: "I've never been able to figure out the meaning of it, except that Corneria City might be the "place of grief and woe" that it's referring to. But I don't see my brother involved in any of this. I had one, Reevo, on Cerinia, but I always assumed him to be among the dead ones when the planet met its demise, for I haven't heard from him since."

As if it was a cue to someone on Corneria, the sound of a door that blew up could be heard, and suddenly Pepper's stern expression changed to that of a frightened man. "What is this? _Who are you?_" the old canine general shouted.

A soft but malicious voice answered him. "Oh, I'm just an old friend who has dropped by to say hello. What's the matter, Pepper-boy, don't you recognize me?". Pepper shook his head.

"Ah, I see you've got some people on the line!" the voice said when it apparently spotted Pepper's holographic transmitter. "Well, as a gesture of my good faith, I'll reveal myself in front of them, too, so you shan't be the only witness to my ascension!"

And with that, the hooded figure who had overseen the invasion of Corneria placed himself next to Pepper. As Krystal saw his magenta robe, blue-furred hands and the blue staff, she twitched involuntarily.

"Behold… the new top official of Corneria! In control of the most devastating military force in the Lylat System, and about to return the favour to an old friend!" the person shouted wickedly and threw his hood away from his face.

The face that appeared was very similar in structure to Krystal's, only it was more masculine. It was covered with blue fur of the exact same cerulean colour as Krystal's fur, but no jewellery adorned this head. His eyes were also emerald, but where Krystal's seemed warm and caring, his eyes were piercing and cold, and you got the feeling that he was looking straight through you, and that you could keep nothing hidden from those eyes. He now focused these eyes on Krystal, and held his gaze there for two seconds, until he smiled a cold smile.

"Hello, Krystal!" he said softly as he always did "Nice to see you again!". But he did not at all sound like he meant it.

Krystal began to shudder out of sheer fright, as she stepped closer to the screen to be absolutely sure that she was seeing who she thought it was. "Reevo?" she finally stammered out nervously "Is... Is that you?", to which he nodded.

"Yes, it is. Long time, no see, sis! And you've brought some friends, I see. But I assume that you're all coming down here in order to try and liberate this miserable planet. You look like that type of people to me! Well then, we can talk much more down here! At least you and I, Krystal, we have a lot of catching up to do. You know where to find me: At the Army Base!" Reevo laughed before terminating the connection.

The bridge was completely silent until Saber spoke up. "Well, Krys, I guess you've got the missing link for your prophecy there… or what?"  
"Yes." Krystal answered feebly, not really capable of realizing what she had just seen "The prophecy has come true. That was Reevo. That… was my brother."


	13. Chapter 12: Contagion of Hate

**_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_** Hello, everyone! Sorry for the long wait, but I have realized that I should perhaps look over my chapters a bit. And so I have done, that's why this chapter is uploaded a little later than usual. I hope you'll enjoy; I've really tried to improve it this time. And again, I thank my faithful reviewers with all my heart, those wonderful people who help me onto the right track. Thanks, guys! Now, let's get it popping; here's the next chapter! Hope you like it. Oh, and why not do me a small favour when you're done reading, and give the review button a tiny click? Thanks in advance!

**Chapter 12: Contagion of Hate ****  
**  
From lieutenant John (Saber)'s log: _Day 12 (entry again): Wow! What I saw really shocked me. And how the hell does Krystal's brother fit into all this? I thought she said that he was destroyed with Cerinia, but that was maybe just what she thought had happened? Maybe it's creepier than that… __  
_  
From commander Jakob (Ghost)'s log: _23:19, Lylatian Standard Time. I sense… danger. We have just reached Corneria and are about to equip ourselves for the upcoming mission. I really feel sorry for Krystal that she has to go through all this. But for the life of me I cannot figure out how that Reevo-guy survived the destruction of Cerinia. I hope that we find some answers on Corneria. _

From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log:_ Right. We're going down to Corneria, and things don't look too good down there. The city's swarming with invading troops and psycho-Cornerians… Man, I think we're lucky if we can get out of this one alive. I've never tried to re-take a planet from an invading force… but it sounds cool!_

"Has Pepper gone insane or what? Liberate an entire planet? Yeah, I suppose you could with an army, but we're just seven in total, if Peppy stays here on the Great Fox. No matter how good we are, Pepper can't expect _that_ of us!" John said as he checked the energy cell in his blaster along with the ones in his pocket, and made sure that the edge of Ragetooth was as razor-sharp as he wanted it. He swung the sword around in the air with startling speed for a while and put it in its sheath a moment after with a satisfied "Hm!" and tightened the buckle of the sheath around his dust-grey vest.

Despite his rather cool and relaxed demeanour, John was nagged by his conscience, as he stood to face the coming trial. Deep from within, the disturbing and irritating voices of doubt and logic were calling out to him, asking him if he really thought that he could do this. He had seen their enemy, seen what kind of devastation they could lay upon the once so proud Corneria City, and what a fool was he to think that three humans and four Lylatians could make a difference by standing up against this army of battle-hardened destrooyers?

As Mikki threw the energy cell for his Gatling-gun into the air, caught it and clicked it into place in the weapon, whereupon he started to check his rocket launcher, he looked over at Saber with a baffled stare. "Dude… just think about how many times we've saved the Lylat System, its officials or someone from the team when they were in danger during these six months. And then, try to think of what incredible odds we've faced each time. Heck, I can understand the old man! If we and Star Fox can't do it, who can?" he said self-righteously, and flung his rocket launcher onto his back. He then grabbed some Cornerian hand grenades from a nearby shelf and strapped them to his vest.

"I agree with you fully!" Jakob added, as he stepped closer to the two from the corner of the room, in which he had been changing into his battledress and trenchcoat. He twirled his newly loaded blasters around his gloved fingers a couple of times before putting them into their holsters. The SMGs already rested in their other holsters. They always liked to show off a bit with their equipment before departing; it gave them a good feeling at the start of every mission.

But deep down in their hearts, each member of G-Wing was convinced that they would need this good feeling more tonight than ever before. They needed something to counter the heavy and black burden of sorrow and shock, which had manifested itself in their minds after seeing the gruesome pictures from Corneria. However, out of respect for the others' well-being, and out of pure logic, they each kept their worries silent and to themselves. Each of them did not want to be the source of a black seed of sorrow amongst the group by bringing that topic up; a seed which might evolve into uncontrollable anger and cloud their judgement once they were there. And they instantly realized that when dealing with these stone-cold cybernetic killers, they would need all the reason and logic that they could get.

"So, are you ready for this?" Ghost asked, and the other two responsed charismatically with heated shouts of "Yeah, dude!" and "Let's crush 'em all! And crush 'em good!"

The team commander could not help by smile contently at his two true and good friends, seeing how they were always dedicated and hyped up for battle. And as such, his only answer was simply: "Great, then let's get rolling!"

As they went outside the armoury, where they had prepared themselves, they were joined by Team Star Fox, who were also decked out in standard combat attires: Their flight uniforms combined with a blaster and a rapid-firing Cornerian plasma machine gun, much lighter than Shield's Gatling-gun. Krystal also carried her staff in a strap on her hip, though it was retracted at the moment.

"It seems we're all ready!" Fox said, as both of the teams had reached the hangar and were ready to board their Arwings. Everyone was there, except Peppy, who was yet again on the bridge. "But I must warn you, gentlemen… and lady!" Fox grinned, and Krystal grinned back, "that we're probably about to enter the most intense combat of our lives. The fate of an entire planet, the symbol of the Lylat System, rests on our shoulders now. We will undoubtedly be facing incredible opposition down there, so just remember to use the cover of darkness to your advantage – it'll be night when we arrive - stick to each other and keep in contact via your comlinks. If we succeed, I'm sure that Pepper will be more than grateful. If we fail…"

Here, the vulpine leader paused and let his stern gaze pass each of them, wanting them to understand the seriousness of the situation. This was not just the Venomian Remnant or something equally average; it was something much more deadly. Fox's well-evolved sense of team-spirit was crying out to him, trying to get him to look it over one more time, so he was absolutely sure that he did not lose one of his teammates. His life had been fraught with loss and mourning in the past, but it did not kill him, and had thus made him stronger. Fox knew that sacrifices were necessary at times, and he had slowly come to grips with that fact, even thought the severe mental scar from the loss of his parents, James McCloud and Vixy Renard, to the psychpathic Andross, still provided a searing pain deep within his very soul. But they had taught him to fight for what he deemed right, and Fox was certainly going to honour their teachings.

"If we fail... " Fox continued his sentence from before "…the Lylat System has only seen its first day of horror. Good luck, everyone!"

And so, the teams boarded their Arwings and departed for Corneria. It would be a fateful night for the planet, but each and every one of the members of Star Fox and G-Wing was focused on doing their very best to accomplish this mission. They knew that there was too much at stake to fail.

The teams set their Arwings down in the hills just outside Corneria City. The hilly landscape provided excellent cover for the fighters, and it did not look like the area was patrolled by any enemy groups. When they had disembarked their Arwings, Fox started coordinating the assignments.

"Alright, listen up: Judging from the intel I've received, a lot of civilian refuge centres have been established by the surviving members of the Cornerian Army in the outskirts of town. And I'm pretty sure that there are still some civilians in the city, who haven't yet been executed, so we need to get them out. Secondly, we need to locate the source of our enemy. And thirdly, we need to dispose of Reevo. I myself would like to sniff out the bad guys!"

Shield immediately responded, "Count me in on that one, Fox! I'd also like to find out where these bastards are coming from… and bash their damned skulls in!"

Saber took his time before he spoke up, "Hey, Fox… I'd like to find some of the survivors if that's all right." He said it casually, but in fact, his mid was racing feverishly to estimate the possibility that Erena and Qatou - the two Cerinians, whom he had befriended during the Orakar 5-incident - had been taken to an enemy camp, or worse - executed. If he found their bodies, he would not know what to do wth himself, he was sure, for his knowing the two had "activated" a part of him, which he was not fully aware of; which had lain dormant for the most part: The happiness of havig other friends, other than those you see every day, and making sure that these new friends are okay, even if it meant protecting them from lethal danger. This feeling had previously been unknown to him, since he mostly worked alone, and liked it that way, but the two Cerinians represented something special to him, and held a very dear place in his heart, after he had received their gift of friendship.

Falco suddenly laughed, "What, are you getting soft and caring all of a sudden, huh, Saber-guy?" he smirked.

"Hey, I can have my own reasons, can't I?" John said crossly and folded his arms across his chest. "Pfft. Whatever," Falco mumbled "But I'm coming with you. I also have my reasons. Besides, someone has to cover your sorry butt!" he taunted.

"You've got yourself a deal! Then I can nag you all the way!" Saber grinned. He always enjoyed making fun of Falco when they were on missions together, just like the avian equally enjoyed making jokes about everyone and everything. Falco had found a competitor to the post of "cool attitude man" in John, but it seemed that Saber did it purely out of nature, whereas Falco had built up this facade over the years to hold back the painful memories of the parting between him and the greatest love of his life; the hot-headed and viciously tempered - but also gracefully beautiful - feline Katt Monroe.

The humour and cool attitude kept the pain from resurfacing unexpectedly, but just now, when confronted by such overwhelming odds, Falco felt an urge deep inside to search Corneria City for Katt, and finally reach a conclusion to the vicious debate that had been going on in his mind for the last couple of weeks about whether or not Katt was alive or dead. If he saw her, he would be able to silence the quarreling mental voices inside his head, thus obtaining some peace of mind. Naturally, he kept his gnawing worries to himself; if the others found out about his sensitive spot, it would only hurt his rather large ego, another aspect of his personality, which he would have to take into consideration.

Krystal looked at the two with a smile before turning to face Fox, "I'll… dispose of Reevo," she stated, but she cringed a bit when she used the word "dispose" about one of her long-lost relatives. Even if he had truly changed course and had begun walking down the dark path of madness, Krystal could not bear the thought of taking the life of someone she knew and loved. The only memories she had of Reevo on Cerinia were happy and lovely ones; he had been the classic supportive brother to her, always backing her up in her various endeavours. It was so hard for her loving and caring metality to grasp that he could have changed so dramatically over the span of a few years. What had changed him in this fashion, making him a malignant and diametrical opposite of his former self, remained yet to be seen.

Krystal resumed the stating of her situation, "He's Cerinian… and my brother, so it's more of a family matter. I know him and what he's like… besides, I would feel more comfortable if I did it myself. But isn't that also what the prophecy is telling me?" she wondered.

Fox walked up to her, wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on her shoulder. "Krys" he whispered into her ear "do what you have to, and do what you feel is right. I'm sure that no-one here will stand in your way, and that they'll respect your decision. I, for one, understand you perfectly. And Krystal… just be careful, all right? I would hate to lose you!" Fox said, hugging her closer, feeling the fear and ansgt of losing the true love of his life set in, now that they were standing upon the brink of one of the most demanding conflicts in the history of the Star Fox Team.

Krystal looked him deeply in the eye. "Fox, you won't lose me. It's not my time to go yet!" she smiled before the two got into a passionate goodbye-kiss in plain view of the others.

John chuckled and shook his head in amazement, mumbling "Oh my God… those two just don't know when to be discrete!". When Fox and Krystal had finished and stepped a bit away from each other again, Fox looked questioningly at Jakob.

"Need I say anything?" Ghost asked, brushing a rather large multicoloured spider - a small leftover from the Aparoid Invasion - off of his trenchcoat before crushing it under his boot. "Bloody Aparoid subspecies!" he mumbled irritably, and turned his attention back to Fox.

"She won't get a scratch, Fox, don't worry. I'll make sure of that. You know how far I'm willing to go to keep Krystal alive, and I certainly won't change my opinion about it this time. Anyone who tries to do anything will end up like that spider... crippled and destroyed!" he said with a cold smirk, pointing to the barely regocnizable remains of the Aparoid-infused insect.

"Well, it's settled, then!" Fox announced. "Everyone knows his or her assignment, so just move out and good luck. And Slippy…" he said, turning his attention towards the last of the members on the ground "…I want you to stay here and guard the Arwings. Seriously, it's important to have a man to do that, especially because we don't know if the enemy could suddenly pass by here. I trust that you'll guard them effectively and valiantly, Slip!" he said seriously.

"Don't worry, Fox. I've got it covered!" Slippy stated, pulling his machine gun from his back and sitting down in front of the Arwings, while the others split into their respective groups as they began to move into the shadow-filled streets of Corneria City.

Just before they were out of sight, Slippy could hear Shield shout "Oh my God! Ghost, those Aparoid-spider-thingies are everywhere! Get the _FUCK_ away from my desert camouflage!" This exclamation was followed by an audible _thump_.

Mikki quickly peeked around a dilapidated wall to make sure that the coast was clear before motioning for Fox to move out. They both stepped into the narrow alley and began making their way through it carefully. Since they had said goodbye to the others at the main street, Fox and Shield had decided to check the narrow side-streets of Corneria City. For as Fox expressed it, "It wouldn't be wise to build a gigantic base on the main road; you should rather make it small, compact and out of the way". The alley had not escaped the hell that had struck Corneria by the time of the invasion, for it was scarred, scorched and broken various places, and bodies or parts of deceased Cornerians were also lying here.

The two had walked in silence until now, when Shield decided to break it. He felt his impatience to see some actio growing rapidly inside him, and he would like to know how far they were from reaching their intended target. "Fox, do you have a plan for this?"

"Well… in all honesty, no," Fox answered hesitantly, feeling a bit embarrassed about having to admit it, "We'll just snoop around and hope that we find some indication as to where they're coming from."He was normally not the one to rush head-first into a combat situation, but in this case, there had simply been no time for a decent planning. Fox felt it as if he let his fellow crewmembers down by not planning properly, and itwas also a clear opposition to the ideals that had been instilled in him by his parents since his early childhood. He felt it as if he were dishonouring their legacy by not thinking it through, but on the other hand, he comforted himself mentally, there had simply been no time, and he also knew deep down inside that James and Vixy would have understood this fact, if they were here.

Mikki was silent for a while as he thought about this rather simple plan, but as he never questioned the authority of his superiors, he just shrugged and said "Whatever you say! You're the man!".

He opened his mouth to say some more, but fell silent instantly as he heard a weird noise approaching them. Fox's ears jerked up as well, as he heard the noise. "_Clank… clank… clank…_". They did not have time to react before they were confronted by three Exterminators that came around the corner. Mikki's only comment as he saw the cyborg troops expressed his exact thoughts. "Damn, they're ugly!"

The Exterminator in the middle took two steps forward, but did nothing after that. Both sides stared each other down for a while, and then the Exterminator that had stepped forward said in a monotone voice, sounding as if it were programmed beforehand to say it: "Cornerians, you are greatly outnumbered and you have no chance of escaping. Drop your weapons and get down on the ground with your…" The rest of its sentence was obscured in the loud blaster noises from Shield's plasma Gatling-gun. As the massive blue plasma rays hit it, the Exterminator flew backwards and landed on the ground twitching, with large holes in its body.

"Someone programmed these freaks to talk too much!" Mikki snickered, before jumping into cover behind another dilapidated wall at the side of the street, as the two remaining Exterminators started to open fire. This lasted for several seconds, which seemed like an eternity, as Shield could feel the laser beams, that one of the Exterminators fired, collide with the wall he was leaning against. Finally, he had waited long enough.

"Fox!" he shouted over the sound of laser fire, so that he was sure that Fox could hear it; he was pinned down by the other Exterminator behind a wall at the other side of the road. "Do they move?"

Fox quickly stuck his head out to look, and removed it just seconds before a laser beam slammed into the spot where his head had been. "No!" he shouted back. Mikki, starting to get all hyped up because of the fight, fingered one of the Cornerian hand grenades, which he had strapped to his vest, impatiently.

Suddenly, he ripped it off and shouted "You want some more? _Do you, you lousy freaks?_ Fine! _EAT THIS!_" whereupon he threw the grenade over the wall. As the loud explosion had sounded and the dust settled, Shield and Fox moved out into the open again. Apart from a laser cannon that had been torn off by the blast and a small hole in the ground, nothing could be seen of the Exterminators.

"I just _love_ explosives!" Mikki beamed, and Fox could not resist the urge to smile back.

Suddenly, a voice sounded from somewhere behind them. "Oh yeah! Three strikes and you're out!"

The twosome quickly whirled around, only to see a husky clad in a dark green uniform approaching them, along with some other dog-like Cornerians. The husky was wearing black sunglasses, and he brandished a large automatic laser rifle. He smiled as he saw Fox's surprised expression and said "We heard the fire-fight, and we decided to investigate it. Hi, Fox! How're you doing?"

Fox shook his head, looking both confused and surprised. "_Bill?_ Is that you? I can't believe it!" he finally managed to stammer out. He had not seen or heard anything about his friend since their untimely parting after the battle of Katina, and he had always presumed him to have gone into exile from the fame, which would rain down upon him shortly after. Now, when he stood before him once again, Fox's sense of logic told him that he should be lucky to be reunited with such a strong supporter, seeing as they were pretty much in a pinch. However, Fox opposed his doubtful self, he had survived the pressure of fame and glory after the Lylat Wars himself, so he could see no reason why Bill should not have, either. And surely, here he was in the dire time of need, just as he had been on Katina.

Bill laughed, "Heh, those were the exact same words as you said on Katina when you saw me there those nine and a half years ago. Back then it was Andross, now it's some new guy, but it's still just as dangerous. It's good to see you again, old buddy!" Bill said sincerely, patting Fox on the shoulder. Mikki approached the two, feeling a little nervous, seeing as how he was about to communicate with a living legend in the Lylat System. Bill's heroic defence of the outpost on Katina during the time of the Lylat Wars had earned him a reputation like a celebrated war-veteran across the entire System, and Shield almost felt inferior to the husky, as he mentally weighed Bill's deeds against his own. He had never repelled an invasion of a planet, conducted by a xenophobic Lylatian race under the rule of the infamous Andross, nor had he aided in great space battles against this enemy. But still, Mikki felt it as if his moment of glory was soon to be upon him, especially when in this situation.

"Uh… I think I know now, but aren't you Bill Grey?" Mikki asked somewhat hesitantly, his nervousness about standing in front of a celebrity setting in.The husky nodded and smiled.

"_That_ Bill Grey? Fox's trusted friend since the Academy, and the one who was involved in the fighting on Katina during the Lylat Wars?" Shield continued.

Bill smiled even wider and said, "Yep, that's the one, in the flesh! And who are you?"

Mikki saluted Bill respectfully, "Sergeant Mikki of the Cornerian Army – well, only temporarily, I guess, until I return to Earth – but some people call me Shield. That's my code name, you know. I'm honoured to meet you, sir!".

Bill looked rather surprised, but kept on smiling his wide, amazed smile, "Wow! Now there's someone who has been taught a proper discipline! Well, all I can say is that it's truly nice to meet a potent soldier like you. The way you took out those cyborgs was… so cool!" Bill said approvingly, and then gestured behind him towards the other Cornerians. They were clad in the same green uniforms as Bill.

"Oh, and these are some guys from the Bulldog and Husky squadrons from back then that I brought along for the ride. I'm sure you remember, Fox. We need as many guns as we can get!" the husky stated. "Now, what are you two looking for?" he asked.

Fox described their mission to Bill: "We're actually trying to find out just where all these cyborgs are coming from, or better yet, from where they're controlled. As far as I can see, they seem to be programmed. I mean, they said "Cornerians" when they confronted us, although Shield's human. If we can find that place, I'm sure that we can ease the lives for many Cornerians by stemming the flow of enemies that are being replaced, or maybe, if it is as I think, we can shut each and every one of those freaks down!"

For a moment, Bill lost himself in thought. Then, he suddenly snapped his fingers, "Wait a minute! I've actually seen something like that! Do you remember the small mountain range and the hills that are on the other side of Corneria City, Fox? You know, where we used to fly when we trained?"

Fox nodded slowly; he remembered those peaceful and exciting days so fondly, when there was no war and no strife to seperate relatives and tear gaps between cultures and civilizations, only the exciting appetite towards life and the experiences, which it could throw at you. Bill and Fox had raced each other many times in their test-fighters, and that small mountain range was one of the areas, which they loved to challenge each other in. Reliving these memories made shimmering tears form in the corners of Fox's eyes. He was glad that he had experienced these things, but conversely seen, he also realized that they would never come back, and that he was now living in a Lylat, which was segregated and torn apart by the raging fires of war. Hopefully, another generation in the future could experience such peaceful and happy things as those, which had filled Fox's childhood and adolescent years, but they were not meant for him. Not anymore. And that pained him to the core of his very being.

"Well, when they started carpet-bombing the city this afternoon, I ran out as fast as I could and hid myself in the hills. My apartment is just on the edge of that area, so it wasn't a problem getting there. Shortly afterwards, I saw a big ship land in front of the hill with that extremely large cave in it. Do you remember that as well?" Bill asked Fox, who nodded yet again.

"And then, a hell of a lot of these weird cyborg soldiers came out of the ship and went into the cave, and they dragged all sorts of electronic equipment with them. Computer consoles, power relays, something that looked like communication devices, and even a big antenna. I didn't stick around to see what they used it for. I ran straight back to the city and gathered my men. Since then, we've wandered through town, helping civilians in need and thinking about what to do." he ended.

"Bill," Fox said slowly, albeit with an iron-hard determination in his voice, "can you and your men take us to that mountain and that cave? I have a strong feeling that it's what we're looking for."

Bill pretended as if he found it difficult to decide, but then broke out in a huge grin. "Hell, you saved that base and my butt on Katina, so I think that I owe you one! We'll just need to keep an eye out for enemies, but if… Shield, was it…?" he asked, and Mikki nodded "…covers us with that giant psycho plasma cannon of his, I think we should be fine! Let's move out!" Bill said, and they all started walking through the collapsed alley. As they went, Shield said reassuringly to Bill: "Don't worry, sir! I'm behind you the whole time!"

"So, John, what happened to that Fara-chick you met on the outpost some weeks ago?" Falco asked provocatively as he scanned another street for enemies with his blaster out. When he had made sure that it was clear, he and John went out into the street and began walking alongside the tall apartment complexes on both sides. As strange as it seemed, these complexes were not as heavily damaged as many other places in the city, probably due to the fact that they were located in the outskirts of town, and the bombing had not been so severe here.

"Shit, Falco! Are you nuts? I dumped her straight away!" Saber laughed as he stepped around a corner with his custom blaster drawn, in case something should jump out in his face. Seeing as everything was clear, he motioned for Falco to follow him down the next street. So far, they had not seen any signs of Cornerian citizens being alive, nor had they seen any Exterminator-patrols.

"What? You dumped her? Oh man, you're cold! She was totally devoted to you, dude! You saved her hide in there!" Falco said in a doubtful voice, as if he had problems understanding just how the matter of things was. He knew that if it was him, who was in that situation, having rescued a damsel in distress from an alien-assimilated outpost, he would hold on to her. He just had that knack with women... except Katt, who always seemed to mysteriously elude him. But perhaps humans thought in completely different patterns than Lylatians. Or maybe it was just John, who was obstinate about maintaining hsi image as the lone wolf and cold killer. Falco chose to go with the last conclusion, which his bewildered mind had reached.

For a moment, both of them ducked as a couple of Split-Fighters on reconnaissance screamed past high in the sky. As they got up again, Saber started to explain himself, "Yeah, well, she wasn't anything special, I can tell you that! Besides, I didn't want to be labelled as a freak for hanging out with someone who wasn't even my race. And when you're in that situation, and when it's a woman who's caused all those problems, there's only one solution: Ditch the bitch!" John shouted happily, but was immediately silenced as Falco held his wing up. From one of the adjacent streets, they could hear the screeching sounds of hovercar engines.

"What the…?" Falco mumbled, but was silenced just as quickly as Saber had been when the hovercars turned around a corner not far away from them.

The five craft were long and slim and of a very elegant design. They were painted jet-black, but on the side was a big red lightning-bolt, rather untraditional for Cornerian design. But the look of the pilots explained why the hovercars were so much out of the ordinary. They were all dressed in worn-out clothes that looked like they had seen just about every type of dirt that Corneria had to offer. They all wore a red headband, and the group consisted of a panther, two wolves, a tiger and a lion in an arrow formation with the lion to the left in front of Saber.

"Shit! Anarchist Cornerians!" John whispered. "Or criminals," Falco added, just as the hovercars reached them. The panther, who seemed to be their leader, spoke up.

"Well well, what do we have here? What are two guys like you doing here in this neighbourhood at night? Don't you know that this fucked-up city has been conquered? They've got some weird robot guys walking around here, eliminating everyone. So what are you doing?" he spoke in a gruff voice.

"None of your frigging business, furball! Stand aside!" Saber shouted aggressively, and pointed his blaster squarely between the panther's eyes. The panther looked at him for a moment, completely baffled, and then he stared to laugh hoarsely.

"What're you doing? Are you threatening me? Unwise, my friend! As your buddy guessed, we're the ones who have come to realize that in times of war, it's survival of the fittest. Furthermore, we've already been rejected from the Cornerian society once – we're outlaws, you might say. And therefore, we never travel around unarmed. Guys!" he called out, and then all five of the strangers reached into the interior of their hovercars and pulled out one laser rifle each.

Even Falco, who had also raised his blaster to back John up, seemed to feel his courage wane as he saw it. The lion raised his voice. "Now, just put down your blasters, or we'll makesome holes in your heads so you can air out in your brains more often, okay?". Confronted by these odds, John and Falco realized that they practically did not have a choice. Slowly, they put their blasters down on the ground in front of them. Oddly enough, the criminals did not seem to have noticed the large sword on John's back; or maybe they just deemed it useless, seeing as they were living in a system, where the weapons industry was focused on particle weapon development, and not the - for them - ancient properties of melee weapons. But that misjudgement was to be their demise.

The panther put his laser rifle back into his hovercar before driving to the blasters, which he picked up. His comrades were still covering Saber and Falco with their rifles, "Hm… Weird weapons. But I think they'll do just fine! In a hopeless situation like ours, nothing's too bad. You can never get enough shots!"

Just as he had said that, the sound of a blaster shot could be heard from behind the five criminals. Something red and glowing exploded at the back of the panther's head. He went completely limp as the shot hit him, and that caused him to drop both blasters. John and Falco immediately went for them, as the laser fire from the other criminals started to slam down into the ground around them. Saber landed on the ground, extended his right hand and gripped around the butt of his blaster, as he made a rolling dodge and got up on his feet. He was now located between the wolf and the lion, who were swinging their rifles around to aim at him again.

Swiftly, he aimed to the right and fired, effectively obliterating the wolf's head at point-blank range, while drawing Ragetooth with his left hand and making a thrust to the left. A wet _thump_ and a gurgle sounded from his left, before he pulled the sword out of the lion's stomach, whirled around and effectively slit the throat of his victim with one single slash. He felt some warm blood stain on his face, and he heard the sounds as the lion fell down onto the bottom of his hovercar, completely lifeless.

As John looked to his right, Falco turned from the other of the two wolves, whom he had just killed, and shot a blaster shot directly into the spine of the tiger.The tigerhad turned his hovercar around and attempted to flee, but instead he gave a whining cry and collapsed over the control column for the hovercar, twitching as the blaster shot hit him in the back. This made the vehicle suddenly change direction and crash into a nearby wall, where it stood as a smoking wreck.

Saber put the sword back in its sheath and brushed himself off. Then, he looked from Falco to the smashed hovercar, "Oh man! That's gotta hurt! Man, I just realized that we killed Cornerians, but Pepper _did_ say any means necessary!" he grinned, but Falco just waved his wing at him.

"Nah, this was easy! Damn, these guys were amateurs! Didn't they know who they were dealing with?" he smirked, completely convinced of his own, unsurpassed skills. A voice answered him from a shadow further down the street, where they could see the outline of someone standing. It spoke in a soft and melodious, but at the same time obstinate and stubborn tone, and it was a voice, which Falco knew all too well. Hearing it again was like being confronted with an echo of the future, calling out to him from the misty layers of his subconsciousness. It stirred something within him, a feeling he had not had in a long time; the feeling of longing... and hidden love.

"Obviously not, Birdbrain, but if I have to be your guardian angel and save your butt every time we meet, I'll just avoid you in the future!"

As Falco heard the voice, he sighed heavily. To John, it sounded like an irritated sigh, a sigh that one would emit when one was confronted by a person, who was absolutely horrible to be with. This was also what Falco tried to camouflage it as, but it was really a sigh of relief, seeing as the possessor of the voice was alive and well. However, he did not want John to know about this soft spot in his personality, and hence he kept up his rather pessimistic tone of voice as he continued, "Oh my God! What're _you_ doing here?" And then, the figure stepped out of the shadow.

It was a tall and slim pink female cat with blue-grey eyes, clad in a dark grey jacket on the outside of a green shirt and with a beige scarf around her neck. She was wearing dark grey pants, which matched her jacket, and well-polished brown leather boots on her feet. In her hand, she carried a standard Cornerian blaster, and it appeared that she was the one who had shot the panther in the back of the head, judging from the angle that the shot came from. She smiled as she saw Falco.

"The great Falco Lombardi! Venturing into the heart of occupied Cornerian territory just to play the hero! And you've brought a friend, I see!" she said, as she turned her attention towards John. The pink feline extended her hand. "The name's Katt. Katt Monroe. And you are…?"

Saber was perplexed by this new and unexpected arrival, so it took him some time to get his thoughts together. "Erm… I'm… lieutenant… oh, screw this! Name's Saber! And that was some nice shooting!" he complimented her and shook her hand.

"Hmm… Saber. Strange code name," Katt mumbled, ignoring the "D'oh!" that John muttered under his breath, because he was irritated that he was compromised so quickly, "And thanks for the compliment! That's more than what Falco has said to me in all the years I've known him!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Saber saw Falco giving him an angry glance. The avian was obviously irritated that his ppartner was already getting along so well with the ex-love of his life. This rather ruined his being here on this assignment, since he wanted to find out how things were between them after the break they had taken, which lasted several years. "Well, thank you very much, Katt! How often haven't I risked my tail feathers because of you?" Falco said irritably.

"Only a few times, as far as I can remember, but that's not important right now. You wanted to know what I'm doing here, Falco, so I'll tell you. I'm trying to locate some survivors, if there are any left," Katt explained.

"Well, wouldn't it figure?" Falco said with a wry smile, "That's exactly what we're doing, too! Maybe we could… join forces? That is, only if you behave yourself and don't get us killed, all right Katt?" he smirked.

"Oh, come on Falco! You know me better than that. I'll only get _you_ killed, while I'll watch out for Saber here!" she grinned. Then, both Falco and Katt turned to face John. "So, Saber, what do you say?" Falco asked John, who shrugged.

"Well… all right I guess. I don't mind other people tagging along for the ride! Heck, this'll be fun!" he said.

"I was on my way to investigate some apartment complexes, which I know are still populated, but then I ran into you." Katt said. Shortly after hearing this, John began beaming contently. If there was something he hated, it was trudging around for hoursat the mission site, waiting for something to happen. He just wanted to get the combat going, so he could pull off some of his amazing maneouvres, while simultaneously using some of all the adrenaline, which rushed through his blood-stream at the moment because of pure excitement. John continually tried to supress his impulsive and rash self, which was budding inside him, waiting to be unleashed. And so far, he did an excellent job of it.

"Well, I guess that if you've already found a place, there's no need for Falco and I to run around looking for one. Let's get it popping!" Saber said merrily, and the three of them walked through the city streets with Katt running point.

Not soon after, they hid behind the wall of a corner that led out to one of the larger streets. Slowly, they peeked around the corner and saw the apartments that Katt had talked about: Tall apartment complexes with shiny facades that glimmered in the moonlight. Furthermore, they saw a patrol of two Exterminators on their way to enter one of the buildings.

As John saw which building it was, his eyes suddenly became wide with horror. "Oh _CRAP!_ That's the building where Erena and Qatou are living. You know, Falco, the two Cerinians I brought back from Orakar-5."

Falco eyed him closely, "Are you sure about that?" The avian was fully aware of Saber's not paying attention to the world around him at times, and he feared that this could be one of them, so he just mistaked this building for another. But as John turned his head to look at Falco, his voice seemed to take on a slight edge of anger as he responded.

"Of course I'm sure; I visited them here yesterday when I wasn't chilling! And they were actually my reason for taking this assignment." John admitted, but then focused on the current situation. If the Exterminators were only entering the building now, there was still a small chance that they had not searched this complex yet, and that his Cerinian friends were still alive. John slowly began to feel the panic overwhelm him. He had to be swift and precise to prevent Krystal from becoming the last Cerinian in the known Universe. And if the enemy succeeded in killing Erena and Qatou, Saber was sure that his psyche would crumble, and he would feel that he had failed utterly, despite his normally cool and untroubled demeanour. Bringing the Cerinians from certain doom on Orakar-5 to certain extermination on Corneria was not a job well done from his point of view. And his common sense kept prodding his conscience with the fact that he had a responsibility to these, his newfound, friends. But the enemy was advancing swiftly, and Saber had to come to a decision soon.

"Oh shit, oh shit, I've got to stop this! They live on the ground floor, so they'll be the ones that those psychos get to first!" he said nervously, but paused when he saw the Exterminators walk through the door. "Fuck! Do me a favour and cover my exit! Make sure no-one ambushes me when I get out. See ya!" he said before sprinting after the Exterminators and through the door, leaving a deeply confused Falco and Katt in his wake.

The round central plaza in Corneria City housed the Army Base and the house for the government. But just like everything else in the central part of the city, it was blackened, scorched and torn apart, completely derived of the beauty that it once held. It was as if a gruesome contagion of hate had spread rapidly from building to building, eventually engulfing the entire city, which – pretty much – was the case.

The Army Base was an impressive twenty-storey building with a lot of shiny windows that made out its front. An outdoor balcony encircled the entire twentieth storey, and it was accessible through a small glass door, which led to Pepper's office. Everyone who had had even the shortest talk with Pepper would know this. The plaza itself was dark and sinister-looking at this time of night, and only a few Exterminators remained here now; the rest were out on patrols or raids in other parts of the city. The few that remained could easily be avoided.

That was the advantage that the two silent persons, who snuck around the plaza towards the Army Base, used to avoid unnecessary confrontations. As they had made their way through the city like swift and silent shadows, Jakob and Krystal had not said a thing to each other, only communicated via the sign language that they used while on stealth missions (it was rather simplistic, but when used in this situation, it said more than what could be expressed with words), and had used all the available shadows to their advantage whenever an Exterminator-patrol went by. They would not risk their position to be known, and it would be if shots were fired. And they very much doubted that they could do anything against a horde of cybernetic killing machines that had severely damaged almost an entire city.

Now, they stood in a place of dark shadow, which provided excellent concealment for Ghost, due to the colour of his clothes. It was only a short distance away from the entrance to the Army Base. It was clear that the Cornerian Army had tried to put up a fight against the invaders, but they had not succeeded. The remains of a barricade were scattered on the ground in front of the twosome, along with the bodies of fallen Cornerian soldiers and weapons.

Krystal turned around and looked at Jakob, a glint of sadness mingled with resolve in her eyes. She knew what was coming and was a bit afraid to face it, but on the other hand, she was deeply focused on seeing it through. She was about to eliminate someone, who had always been dead in her mind, following the destruction of Cerinia. His psyche had altered to the unregocnizable, this she was sure of. When she saw the live footage from Corneria, the cerulean vixen was no longer in doubt: She had seen the distinct flame of madness and insanity blazing in his eyes. And it scared her and made her sad to think about that she was going to fight one of her long-lost and loved relatives, but on the other hand, if he had become a monster, she would have no other choice.

But also, Krystal wanted to spare the life of her friend, who stood there anxoiusly, waiting to hear what she had to say to him. Jakob had no part in this family vendetta, it was not him who this prophecy was minted upon. And because of this, Krystal had the feeling that if he went with her, it would just result in the untimely demise of one of them, leaving the other one in a state of crushing despair, mourning and sorrow. And if someone had to die here, Krystal concluded with herself, it would be her. Ghost had so much more to live for, and she had sensed that he had the mental strength to put the eventual loss of her behind him and live his life again, should she die. Fox would also be devastated by her death, but he could live with it; he was also mentally strong, and he knew that they would reunite in the afterlife.Krystal knew that she could never accept it fully herself, were the loss the other way around; so that Jakob died. She would always have a mental scar and a nagging on her conscience, constantly torturing her mind with asking: "Why did you let him die?". And Krystal wanted no part of that.

"Well, Ghost, I'm afraid that this is where I'll have to ask you to leave me and let me continue on my own", she stated calmly. He just looked wide-eyed at her; he could not believe the words he had just heard her say. They always went with each other when on missions; that was the "code" they had lived by for the last six months. That was their mantra. And Krystal was obviously denying it now. With a confused gesture, he pointed from her to the building, and looked at her queerly.

"Are you crazy?" he asked her wonderingly, "That guy's got cyborgs up his ass! I bet the entire Army Base is crawling with those things right now. If you go in there by yourself, it's suicide. Not to mention that Fox will rip my heart out and shove it down my throat for not protecting you if you're seriously wounded or you die. Come on Krys, let me help you! I think that you'll maybe stand a chance if we go together."

Krystal maintained her calm expression despite Ghost's protests; she had anticipated that reaction, "No. And I mean it," she said firmly, "What I'm about to go through has got nothing to do with you. The prophecy is meant for me. Reevo's my family, it's my responsibility to set him right again. And I also fear that he holds powers and skills far beyond mine, but I must try nevertheless. For I believe that I may even possess skills that I know nothing of yet, but they will come to me when the time is right."

Jakob bent down to pick up a Cornerian sniper rifle that was lying on the ground. The energy cell had been knocked out of place, "Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible…" he mumbled, as he clicked it back in and checked the scope.

"What was that?" Krystal asked apologetically. "Oh, sorry. I must be thinking aloud," Ghost said, as he placed the rifle against the wall while he talked to her.

"It's just an excerpt from a saying in a movie back on Earth. It goes like this: "Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon. Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself". The saying means in its entirety that if you don't think about limits, or what's possible to do within the boundaries of reality,in other words, you can do almost anything. Faith must transcend logic. So that's the best advice I can give you. Don't think about what's possible for you to do when you face him. Let the possibilities come to you. Don't let your mind and actions be controlled by limits. Break free from that control and let your beliefs fill your mind and intuition drive your actions. That's about it."

He paused, and then placed a gloved hand firmly and reassuringly on her shoulder, as if to underline his seriousness or give a signal that she could trust him, "I have a visual of the lobby and some of the floors above it. I just found a sniper rifle as you saw, so I'll monitor your progress through the scope and maybe squeeze off a few shots, should you need it. But I'm a _very_ lousy long-distance shot, unfortunately, so I guess the only thing that's left for me to say is: Good luck, Krystal!"

After Ghost had finished his long speech,Krystal hesitated, but then she smiled warmly and gently removed his hand from her shoulder, giving it a friendly squeeze as she did so, "I don't know if I'll die in there, so this may be the last time that I say goodbye to you. But here it is: Goodbye Jakob! And I'll remember what you said about the spoon and all that. I'm sure it'll help me!" Krystal said honestly, and then turned around and began walking towards the building, her machine gun at the ready.

"Yes, it'll help you!" Jakob whispered to himself as he picked up the sniper rifle and watched her through the scope. "Because then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, Krystal… It is only yourself.".


	14. Chapter 13: Nine Times to Die

**_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_** Hello there, my faithful readers! I hope that you're ready for a chapter with answers and revelations, thrilling excitement and intense fighting, because that's the essence of this one. Again, I would have posted it earlier on, but there was just so much I had to rewrite and correct to make it better, hence the update today (30th of April). Hope you like it, as always! And don't be shy to tell me if I have improved, not changed at all or gotten worse (gulp!) by clicking that nice little review button when you're done reading. Come on, it likes to be clicked every once in a while! ;-) Oh, and maybe it'll be easier for you to see which game character Ki'Lek is based on in this chapter (that is, if you've played the game where I got the inspiration from, but fans of the game will know it straight away, I'm sure...). Enjoy!

**Chapter 13: Nine Times to Die****  
**  
From Peppy's log: _Well, the teams are out again. I'm way too old for all that action, so I feel much better here on the Great Fox. From what I heard from Pepper, things are not exactly optimal on Corneria at the moment… and it's also pretty dangerous. I just hope that everyone is OK down there. _

"Okay, guys. Here it is!" Bill whispered, as he, Mikki, Fox and the guys from the Bulldog and Husky units crept a bit closer to the complex through some thick shrubbery that was located right next to it. The shrubbery provided ideal cover for the advancing commandos. As Shield eyed the place closely, he agreed with Bill. "Hell, this has to be it. Otherwise, I can't find a reason for why they would want to smack that antenna onto the hill!"

And he was right. The hill itself was pretty large, presumably due to the fact that a large cave complex was located inside of it. How such a large cave could exist within a hill was a mystery of nature. But it was clear that the invaders had used the hill and cave complex for their own doings. Three Exterminators patrolled the immediate area in front of the cave, and through the top of the hill, a giant antenna seemed to reach all the way into the dark and starry night sky. It was extremely large, covered with panels that enhanced the strength of the signal being transmitted, and auxiliary antennas and small dishes seemed to jut out from it everywhere.

"_That's it!_ That's the antenna I talked about!" Bill whispered excitedly, feeling a kind of thrill and tension develop inside him. Hours before this event, he had been running for dear life from this very place, as the alien invaders had prepared to suit it for their villainous schemes. But now, when he was here again with a bunch of valorous and courageous soldiers, who were not afraid to lay their lives on the line for whatever cause they deemed right, Bill felt compelled to the core of his very being to get to the bottom of this case. For him, the blind running in fear was over; there was only an iron will and loaded guns now.

"Okay, then…" Fox mumbled quietly, "What do we do about the guards?" He nodded in the direction of the three Exterminators, seriously worried, though he did not let it show at the moment. The clinch that he and Shield had gotten into in the alley with the three other Exterminators had taken its time to get out of. Now, he came prepared and with more men, but Fox was yet nagged by the unpleasant feeling that if he and his men could not eliminate all three of the perimeter-guards almost simultaneously, one of them would almost certainly have enough time to raise an alarm inside the compound. And then, he was sure, if this was the main base for these invaders, the teams would have a much harder time entering the complex, since every sentry would be on alert and ready to gun them down instantly.

"Heh, we'll just maintain stealth and sneak around them. There's a lot of shrubbery here, so sneaking past them shouldn't be a problem. Then we can search for a way to get in," Bill whispered confidently. Mikki narrowed his eyes and looked at Bill and Fox, and - judging from his next reaction and the consequences thereof - it would probably have been good if Fox had spoken his thoughts out loud:

"Damn! What're you guys talking about? I know a much more reliable and simple plan. It's called: Death by hand grenade!" he grinned viciously, and before anyone could stop him, he had thrown another one of the grenades that were strapped to his vest. It landed right next to the three Exterminators as they passed each other on their patrol, flashed red for a second, and when it exploded, everyone could see the searing flash of light as it engulfed the cyborgs. When it died down, the commandos could see the charred bodies of the troops sprawled out on the ground a small distance away.

Bill turned to face Shield and shrugged with a smile, "Well… that works too! But there goes our element of surprise," he said worriedly as a light started to flash red inside the cave, but no sound came out. The aliens had undoubtedly heard the loud explosion from the grenade and triggered a silent alarm.

Mikki answered Bill happily, "With all due respect, sir, that was intended. I say: Bring 'em on! The more enemies there are, the more pain we can cause!" he said enthusiastically with a happy grin on his face. Since his early interest in war, Shield had always taken dearly to the principles of facing the enemy head-on and rushing into the fray, probably to your death, but it would be a death with a cause. As far as he was concerned, Mikki's cause was clear: To secure peace and prosperity for all those who needed it in the Lylat System. Thiscredo had lodged itself firmly in his heart, ever since he had been appointed as a sergeant of the Cornerian Army.

But also, Mikki felt himself driven by a strong internal honour codex, which he had built up over the years, not only in Lylat, but also on Earth: "Always me before the others!". If some evildoers tried to get to his friends or the people of Lylat, they would have to face his exceptionally high strength and stamina, and go through him first. That way, he would have secured the peace and prosperity of his friends, even in death. And when measured on that scale, his life was the smallest sacrifice to be made. Bringing peace to others by committing yourself fully and valiantly to this sole purpose, that was a cause worth dying for. At least in Mikki's eyes.

Bill looked at Fox questioningly, but Fox just shook his head with a smile and said, "That's just Shield! He's always been like that!" Fox had learned to live with Mikki's impulsive, albeit courageous, nature over the past six months, so he felt no need to ask questions. But he did realize that it might look idiotic, or even insane, to anyone who witnessed it and was not familiar with Shield's devastating methods of operation.

Bill wondered about this for a moment and then smiled himself, "Hmm… If other people can do it, so can we. Alright, we're going straight for the heart of this compound! We'll crush them before they even know what hit them! Bulldog and Husky units, take up offensive formations! Let's dish out some pain!" he shouted, as the first enemies started to appear in the opening of the cave. He valiantly stepped forward from the shrubbery and opened fire with his large automatic laser rifle.

As the flurry of red beams hit the Exterminators, they were practically blown out of the way. Fox and the other soldiers followed shortly after with Mikki tagging along at the end. As they ran into the cave, Shield could see various electronic consoles lined up against the walls. But what he could also see was the horde of Exterminators approaching them from further within the cave, their laser cannons blazing. He opened fire, and his Gatling gun responded with a thunderous roar of blue plasma beams, which virtually ripped the enemies to shreds. "Hell yeah! Now _that's_ what I'm talking about!" Shield shouted happily, feeling perfectly at home in the hectic fray while blasting down enemies. This was what he had been trained for… and he liked it.

As the door to their small Cornerian apartment was blown to pieces by a salvo of laser fire from the Exterminators' laser cannons, Erena and Qatou, the two Cerinians, huddled together in the middle of their austere living room. Not much furniture was present here, because it was only a few days since they had come to the planet. And now, it seemed like their stay here was about to come to an abrupt end, as the two Exterminators entered their living room and looked at the two. The atrocious creations seemed completely out of place in the sterile, white and seemingly overly clean Cornerian apartment. All the lines were straight and sharp, and with their unnatural and revolting deformities, the Exterminators, at least to the Cerinians, resembled demons from the darkest depths of an alternate universe, viciously intruding upon their newfound haven of purity and security.

One of the cyborgs spoke up in the monotone voice that each and every one of the Exterminators seemed to have, "You will follow our orders without questioning. You will come with us now or be obliterated.", it rasped. The Cerinians did not move an inch, firstly because they did not understand the language, which the stranger was speaking, fully, and secondly because they were too scared.

The cyborg repeated its statement, "You will come with us now or be obliterated, and you will comply. We will not give this order again.", it said. Still, Erena and Qatou did not move. The Exterminators then both raised their laser cannons in one flowing motion. "Capture has proved impossible. Commencing termination of subjects.", one of them stated as they prepared to fire.

Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind them, "_Wrong!_ Commencing termination of _you_, bitch!" The two Cerinians stared in horror as a wet _crunch_ could be heard, and one of the Exterminators got an even more vacant expression in his eyes than he had had before. Slowly, a blade covered with red, glowing runes and blood emerged through his chest, and as John swiftly yanked the sword out again, he also let go of the cyborg's shoulder, which he had held in a firm grip. The Exterminator slumped down lifelessly.

As the second cyborg turned around to see the intruder, Saber had already prepared himself, and as the Exterminator faced him, he spun around, swinging Ragetooth in a deadly slash across the creature's abdomen. And just as if he were frozen in time for that very moment, John held his final position with the sword, until a trail of blood began trickling down from the wound and the Exterminator fell limply to his knees and onto the floor.

Saber straightened back up, stuck the sword back into its sheath and turned to face Erena and Qatou, "Hello again, homies!" he said with a wry smile, "Looks like I'm the one to rescue you from trouble yet again, eh?" Neither one of the Cerinians said anything at first, until Qatou slowly, and in a somewhat broken language, said: "Saber… it's good… to see you… agan!" and Erena nodded energetically. The courageous act that John had pulled off by getting them out of the clutches of the insane scientists and mercenaries on Orakar 5 was still clear in their memory, and now that he had just come to their rescue in the nick of time yet again, the two Cerinians knew deep in their hearts that they could not have wished for a better companion to guide them through this hellish night.

"Again!" John corrected him, seeing as Qatou left out the "i","And yeah, it's good to see you, too! Now let's get out of here before more of these creepy robot guys show up. Follow me!" he said and motioned for the two to go with him, which they did without questioning. As they reached street level again, they could hear the sound of blaster fire clearly through the quiet night. As soon as Saberheard this, he instantly knew that trouble was brewing, for some of the combattants seemed to use rapid-firing laser cannons, as far as he could tell by the sound of it; exactly the type of weapon, which had been implanted on the arms of the Exterminators. John acted purely on instinct and drew his blaster, "Stay here!" he hissed and ran out through the door.

Falco and Katt had apparently retreated back to the corner that they came from, and they were firing fiercely at a group of approaching Exterminators. John made a rolling dodge in behind the wall, thus narrowly avoiding a series of laser beams, and asked what was going on. "We don't really know!" Katt answered, ripped out the energy cell for her blaster and clicked a new one into place, leaning out to take some potshots at the enemy, "These guys just came out of nowhere. But one thing is for sure. They're blocking our path to the refuge centre!"

John quickly whirled out from behind the wall and squeezed off a few shots from his blaster, making a couple of hostiles fall, before ducking back into cover, "We've got to get out of here, but that's easier said than done when we're pinned down here, right Falco?" Saber asked. He did not get an answer.

"Falco?" he asked again, and turned around to try and see the blue avian. But he was gone. "_Damn it!_" he growled irritably to Katt, "Where did that stupid bird go?"

"I have no idea!" she answered back, before popping out to fire at the Extrminators. And as she returned to the safety of the wall, her face was grave and her voice agitated by what she had just seen. The Exterminators had been advancing swiftly towards the door where Erena and Qatou were hiding, and Katt knew that if the cyborgs found the Cerinians, it would definitely result in a slaughter, "It looks like they're closing in on your friends, Saber!" she informed concisely.

Before John could say anything to her in response or do anything, the screeching sound of a hovercar engine deafened both him and Katt. They turned around to see Falco riding one of the hovercars that had belonged to the criminals they encountered earlier. He was driving at full speed and with a wide smile on his face. With no fear whatsoever, he turned around the corner and mowed the Exterminators down with blazing speed. John and Katt could hear several crunching sounds as the hovercar ploughed violently through the mass of invaders.

When they dared to look again, the opposition was reduced to a pile of mutilated cyborgs. Saber immediately ran out and began blasting those, who were still alive, while Katt slowly approached the Cerinians who crouched in the doorway. Through gestures and careful explanations, she persuaded them to go to Falco's hovercar, while she and John searched for more survivors in the buildings. When they had gathered as many as they deemed it safe to proceed with, which was a rather large flock, they slowly began to move on towards the refuge centre. But danger still lurked in the darkness, and everyone was aware of this as they went.

"If you as much as twitch…", Jakob whispered to himself as he looked through the scope of the sniper rifle, having set his sights on the head of the Exterminator next to the door into the lobby of the Army Base. His plan was to create an opening for Krystal if he saw it raise its laser cannon. That way, she would still have a chance to try and defend herself, instead of being gunned down on the spot. As he watched the cerulean vixen move closer to the building, her stature and way of walking seeming bold and determined, he concluded with himself that she was certainly up for getting the job done, no matter what hindrance that stood in her way, and that it was truly a daring plan, which she had fabricated. But also, he had to admit, a pretty stupid one.

It pained him to think things like that about his trusted friend, but he could clearly see the signs. If she were not so bound and blinded by the inherent code of tradition and family blood, Krystal would perhaps have listened to reason and let him join her on her quest, instead of rushing head-first into a stronghold occupied by the expectant enemy. But her stubbornness to tradition and honour caused her to overlook all these easily foreseeable perils, thus effectively rendering herself much more vulnerable than if she had backup with her. Immense courage and feeling of honour, such as Krystal's, often suffered under the side-effect of extreme stubbornness, which in turn caused her to exclude svereal important factors - such as backup - from her planning, thinking that it was only her responsibility to fulfill the mission, and not also the responsibility of those, who were there to help her. And that put her in a much weaker position, when she was finally at the scene. "Despite all of her amazing qualities, she still has to learn to distingiush between cause and effect!" Jakob thought, smiling slightly.

"Okay, Ghost. Nice and easy on the trigger!" he said quietly to himself, remembering the basics of sniper trainig at the Cornerian Fleet Academy six months ago. His finger tensed calmly around the trigger as Krystal walked through the automated doors. But when she walked past the Exterminator, Ghost immediately removed his finger from the trigger, blinked a couple of times and then looked through the scope again. "I'll be damned!" he mumbled. "They don't fire!"

And right he was. Every single Exterminator in the lobby – and that was quite many – followed Krystal with their eyes, but made no attempts at all to shoot her in the back. This continued as he, more and more amazed, followed her as she advanced to some of the higher floors – and he could, thanks to the front of the Army Base being made of glass - but then she disappeared from his line of sight when she was too high up. He placed the sniper rifle by his feet, sat on a chunk of the wall that had been bombed off, sighed and rubbed his tired eye without the vision intensifier. He had never been trained in sniping, apart from the very basic stuff that Mikki and John had also gone through when they all came to the Lylat System, and he was not suited for it at all.

Krystal walked through the corridor leading to Pepper's office. Her head was swarming with thoughts about Reevo, about Pepper, about Fox and the team, about G-Wing… It was clear to her that her brother had been exposed to something cruel and unforgiving, since he had become so radically different from his former caring self. And from what Krystal had heard and seen in the live footage from Corneria, his anger seemed to be focused on General Pepper. But how in Lylat could that be? To her knowledge, Pepper had never done anything wrong; he had only striven to secure the Lylat Sytem from any enemy, domestic or foreign, that dared threaten the system. And he had done a good job of it, so the blue-furred vixen could find no reason for why he should be the target of Reevo's devatsating, uncontrollable rage.

Reevo was clearly extremely dangerous in his new and unpredictable state of mind, so if Krystal should die, as she heard the malicous voice of conscience whispering to her that she probably would, she would feel, even in death, that she had let the Star Fox Team down utterly, seeing as how they would lose one of their newest members, not to mention Fox. Her love for him would be eternal, and Krystal hoped that, when they reunited in the afterlife, this could be the feeling that would guide their souls towards one another, like beacons for lost ships in the middle of a vast ocean in the dead of night. Another group, which she would have let down, was G-Wing. Krystal was fully aware of this deep inside. It had always seemed to her that each and every one of them enjoyed her company, and the cerulean vixen was sure that her guilt would never leave her in peace in the afterlife if they were to be depressed by her passing.

But in the end, Krystal silenced all of her garbled mental voices with a sudden boost of willpower. She knew that she could not let herself be distracted by that now; she had a mission to carry out, and it would come to an end, be it one way or the other. She involuntarily fingered the retracted golden staff that she carried in her belt, before she arrived at the door to Pepper's office on the twentieth floor and walked through it.

Pepper's large office with a glass-door leading out to the balcony in the east wall was dominated by a wide desk with a desktop of glass in the middle of it. The general himself was sitting in the high-backed chair behind the desk and Reevo stood next to him, leaning against his azure and twisted staff. The Cerinian smiled yet another one of his cold, malicious smiles when he saw Krystal. "So… my last-minute suggestion to Ki'Lek _did _work after all!" he said malevolently.

"Hello, sister! Now, I presume you wonder why the Exterminators down below didn't fire?" he asked. Krystal just kept her hateful stare locked on him and nodded slowly, "Well, I made contact with my chief scientist on this project, and he programmed the troops, so that they didn't fire when they saw a blue-furred vixen. Any others should be killed on sight!" he smiled, and it was clearly not a smile of joy, but of madness, "Anything else you'd like to know?"

"Yes!" Krystal answered through clenched teeth because of anger, "_Why_ are you doing this?" His cause and motives had completely eluded her until this point, and she could simply not understand why her previously so loving and caring brother would do something as insane and horrible as this. But as she asked the question, she saw Reevo's face become hard and cruel with rage, and Krystal knew that by asking that question, she had awoken something monstrous and terrible inside him, which he had been trying to control, but when confronted by that question, he could not hold it in anymore, since it was his very reason for doing all this.

"And I might as well point out the culprit," Reevo thought, and, as a follow-up of that thought, he pointed a finger at Pepper, "Ask your friend over there!" he said menacingly. Pepper did not do a thing, except that his eyes darted from Krystal to Reevo and back to Krystal. "He won't talk right now, it seems." Reevo stated and sighed, but then continued after a few moments, speaking in his dangerously calm and cold tone.

"No matter. That just means I'll have to. What is there to say? You see, one and a half years ago, during the destruction of Cerinia, I was sent here by our father's emergency ship, just like you were sent somewhere else. It wasn't only you who was outfitted with such a ship. As I pleaded my case to Pepper and the government on Corneria, they wouldn't listen. They thought that I was some disturbed hillbilly from the outer rim of Lylat, when I told them that our planet had been destroyed by something terrible. And thus they ostracised me. They just didn't deem me worthy or sane enough to stay. But worst of all: It was Pepper, who was in charge of the banishing of me, even though I cried my eyes out and assured them on numerous occasions that what I was saying was true. I have been waiting for so long for this day, where I'll make the government feel its incompetence!".

His voice rose in tone, as if he directed his words to Pepper also, "Me? A mentally sick and disturbed hillbilly? _Think again!_ But they didn't consider the power of the staff I was carrying with me, and that was to become their demise. This staff is namely…?" he said to Krystal and raised his staff in front of her eyes, waiting for her to answer.

"The Staff of Waves!" she whispered and felt a light sting of fear inside of her. This staff had been the ceremonial item for her father back on Cerinia, seeing as he was a nobleman of fairly high rank in the society there, and although he was very reluctant to tell her about its true purpose, she was told that it held great powers, imbued in it by the Krazoa, just like her own ceremonial staff. But he also let her know that this was an item, which should be passed down the family chain as a heritage, each link explaining its powers to the next link in the family. Should anyone break that continuity or forsake the family by misusing its powers, he or she would be damned for eternity by the Cerinian community.

"Correct you are, sis. You haven't forgotten everything about Cerinia yet!" Reevo smirked coldly, "Yes, this staff is indeed powerful. While it may not have quite the same powers as yours, it still possesses the ultimate power: The ability to warp between dimensions. Apart from that, it is also a first-class weapon."

Krystal looked at Reevo, as if she knew that he had lost his mind for sure now by uttering those words,."But it belonged to our father! He never wanted us to misuse its powers like you have done now!" she said in a moralizing tone of voice. Reevo stared fixedly at her, not understanding her sadness and anger, actually he despised it. Krystal had been the true follower of morale and honour on Cerinia, a trait that had lasted and lodged itself in her personality even until now, and she would often use that righteous sight on deeds and actions to correct him in his doings, should he go a little over the top sometimes.

But over the years, Reevo had begun to take a slight dislike to this constant correction of his actions, and now, he felt that he was in a position where he had the power to oppose Krystal's pure heart, "_Don't_ start again, Krystal!" he said slowly and menacingly, "Don't dictate to me what's right or wrong. I've heard enough of that from the Cornerian Government, which – deep inside – is very weak! And yes, I stole this staff from our father's dead body. Oh, come on, don't squeal!" he hissed coldly as Krystal began to cry bitterly.

The sole fact that he had stolen the staff from her father's corpse had made a pang of emotional pain erupt inside of her, and now she felt it as if a part of her soul had just been destroyed upon realizing that her ever so supportive and caring brother had broken one of Cerinia's most fundamental laws, denied the continuity of the Cerinian society during the planet's untimely demise, and simply used this sacred relic for his own devilish doings and gain. Reevo looked at her pityingly, without the slightest feeling of compassion or remorse as he saw her emotionally broken, sobbing heart-rendingly. "Just as weak as the others, who can't grasp the benefits of personal winning!" he thought and smirked coldly before resuming his tale.

"What use do the dead have for their treasures, anyhow? Well, as I was saying, I used the teleporting power of this staff to warp to another dimension, where I met Ki'Lek and his race, who accepted me without questioning. Since then, for one and a half years, I've been planning my revenge upon Corneria. They'll pay for underestimating me! And luckily, Ki'Lek's race is very advanced when it comes to science – hence the fighters and cyborg guards – so I had all the necessary tools I needed to prepare my revenge in every single detail!"

"But there's no _need_ to go as far as this, Reevo! You can find yourself a home and _talk_ to the Government about things!" Krystal pleaded, wiping the tears from her eyes, in a last desperate attempt to make her brother deviate from the maniacal course that he had clearly taken. Again, he looked at her with those piercing eyes of his, as if she were a complete and utter fool.

"Home? _Home_, you say, Krystal? Corneria has robbed me of my home. Its top leaders have banished me to the cold recesses of space, so my only home now is where the void is. And if I can bring that void to some of Corneria's citizens by eliminating them, it will maybe only improve my cause!". He smiled wickedly, and when Krystal saw that smile, she knew that there was no way that she could make him abandon the crusade of madness, which he had begun. She knew what had to be done.

"If I can't make you see beyond the obscuring darkness of madness…" Krystal said, heaving a deep sigh and extending her golden staff "… _I_ must banish you to the void, too.". Reevo understood her poetic metaphor perfectly, and wasted no time in preparing himself for this endeavour of settling the family trouble. He knew that he would stand a better chance if he damaged her resolve first, and he started out with a melancholic taunt.

"This is how it ends, huh? Killed by the hand of my own dear sister… or her killed by my hand. But you're forgetting something, Krystal! I may look like a fox, but I am like a cat. Feline grace, swiftness and agility... and I also have nine times to die!" Reevo smirked evilly, convinced that this threat or taunt would demoralize the poor cerulean vixen even further. But on the contrary, it only enraged her. "You won't need nine times when I'm done with you, you _traitor of your own kin!_" Krystal shouted out in extreme anger.

Reevo just stared her down coldly, "So be it! Let's settle this!" he said softly, and raised his own staff. The two of them entered their battle-ready poses: Their legs were spread a bit apart in order for them to maintain their footing, and their staffs pointed diagonally forwards. Before Reevo lunged at her with a deadly swipe, he took the time to make a statement: "Krystal, this ends now!"

Outside, Jakob was getting very tired, but he forced himself to be awake; just in case something should happen inside the Army Base, he would like to be awake, so that he could prevent catastrophic consequences. After he had done this a couple of times, and he still could not see any problems, he decided to let it slip just for a couple of minutes. He placed his head against the wall, pulled his trenchcoat a bit closer around himself and closed his eyes. He was immediately awoken by the sound of glass splintering from up high. He quickly jerked his head up, grabbed the sniper rifle and zoomed in on the balcony, where the sound appeared to be coming from. And what he saw shocked him.

Krystal and Reevo had smashed the door leading to the balcony and were now fighting an impossibly fast duel with their staffs, golden and azure, whirling around so fast that the eye could almost not keep up with their movements. Ghost saw that Reevo was driving Krystal backwards, constantly getting a free, fast swing every so often on the cerulean vixen. She was just a bit too slow.

"Come on Krystal! There is no spoon, for God's sake! Realize the truth! You can do anything as long as you aren't controlled by limits!" Jakob half mumbled, half shouted to himself as he began to align his aim on Reevo's side with the rifle.

"Fox will probably not rip my heart out and shove it down my throat if Krystal keeps getting beaten like that. He'll take my _spleen_ instead, so I can still feel the pain while it's being shoved down my throat! I know she said that I shouldn't go with her, but I _can _provide just a little help, now can't I?" he thought, before he squeezed the trigger. The red energy bolt was just about to hit Reevo in the side, when he – almost as a natural extension of the flowing punch he was executing towards Krystal's ribs – tilted the staff a little, so the energy bolt simply got absorbed by the weapon, despite the fact that he could not have seen it coming. When Jakob saw this amazing display of skill, there was no longer any doubt in his mind as to just how dangerous Krystal's current adversary was.

"Holy hell!… _Krystal!_" Ghost shouted wildly, dropping the sniper rifle and completely forgetting about discretion. Drawing his SMGs in a hurry, he rushed over to the entrance doors. As they slid to the side, the first thing he noticed was all the Exterminators, which were gathered in the lobby, raising their laser cannons in unison. "Ah… the welcoming committee!" he said ironically with a wry smile, before jumping into cover behind the reception desk with blazing SMGs. He did not know how long this cover would last; he could tell that every cyborg was firing on it. More importantly, however, he did not know how long he could last himself.

"_BOOM!_". The explosion from the hand grenade rocked the entire compound and bodies of Exterminators were blown out to the sides of the cave, which Fox, Mikki, Bill and the Cornerian soldiers entered. The Cornerians immediately spread out in order to search for more surviving invaders, and as the others came into the cave, they could see that this place had to be the central hub, from which all the enemy operations were conducted:

The large cave was filled with computer screens on the wall, each of them displaying status reports from their ground teams or from the Split-Fighters, according to what the onboard computer was relaying to the screens. The cave was round, but yet wide, and was filled with entrances to other caves to the sides. These entrances were blocked off by small steel doors. But Shield and the others knew that these had to be the reserve barracks, where extra troops just waited to pour out into the cave.

In the very middle of the room was a large platform with an equally large computer terminal on it. The terminal seemed to stretch all the way up through the roof, and from what Shield, Fox and Bill could gather, this was the bottom of the antenna. A figure clad in a green cloak adorned with golden ribbons was typing furiously on the control panel of the terminal. He had his back turned to the fight, which took place right behind him, but he did not at all seemed worried about the cyborgs losing.

As Mikki blasted the last Exterminator out of existence after he had helped Fox get rid of a very persistent foe, he turned to face the person standing at the computer. "_HEY!_ You up there!" he roared, and Ki'Lek turned around, donning a relaxed and serene smile on his face, seemingly unaffected by the intense fighting, which had been going on right behind him. Shield instantly knew that he was up to something, and whatever it was, it could not be good.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" the alien asked, seemingly friendly, but you could feel the malice boiling beneath the surface. Fox stepped forward. "I am Fox McCloud of the Star Fox Team, this is sergeant Mikki from G-Wing and Bill Grey of the Cornerian Army. And frankly," Fox said, stating what he really felt, "we're all pretty tired of you and your robot army just coming to our planet and thinking that it's yours. That makes us pretty pissed, just so you know it, and we would like you and your friends to leave _now!_" Fox emphasized, raising his blaster.

During Fox's small monologue, Ki'Lek had slowly snuck his way back towards the control panel. Now, he stood next to it and smiled an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry!" he said, "But I can't leave just now. You see, there is still one person who hasn't met me, and whom I would very much like to meet myself. She would be a perfect specimen for my further research in bio-engineering!"

"What are you talking about?" Fox growled suspiciously. The very idea about using females for biological experiments frightened him to the core, and also induced a great deal of anger in him, seeing as he could not grasp how sick and twisted a mind one should have to perform such diabolical acts. But even his worst nightmares could not have prepared him for the fiendish scheme, which was now being unveiled, as Ki'Lek started reeling off in his rasping, but yet soft and elegant, British-accented voice. Reevo had toldKi'Lek about the female in question, and as he had learned about her story and attributes, the alien had devised a cunning plan for her future as his biological guinea-pig.

"Krystal… should I say McCloud?... is truly one of the most astounding creatures in the universe. The sole survivor of her planet's untimely demise, she roamed the galaxy for some time, searching for answers about this. That is, until she met the courageous leader of the mercenary team known as Star Fox, Fox McCloud, who lo and behold is standing here right now, and decided to seek comfort in his arms." Here, the alien lowered his voice to a menacing tone as he continued, "Unfortunately, following in your father's footsteps as Fox did, can sometimes turn out to be…" he sighed complacently and smiled dreamily before uttering the last word, "… disastrous!"

"What the _hell_ do you mean by that?" Mikki said angrily, expecting an idea that would be hrmful to either Fox or Krystal. If either one of them was harmed, he would have broken his own oath about bringing peace through his fr4iends by his deeds and sacrifice. Furthermore, he would have forsaken his idols from Team Star Fox, and he did not want that to happen, just because of a psychopathic alien scientist.

Ki'Lek smiled devilishly and continued, "During this campaign, Fox will be faced with such overwhelming odds that even he crumbles under the pressure… and dies. My Exterminators will see to that!" the alien said triumphantly as he saw the look of horror in Fox's eyes. Ki'Lek continued coldly and matter-of-factly.

"Devastated and broken-hearted, Krystal will come to me. I will, by that time, have created a bit of attention around myself, even claiming that I can revive the dead with my technology. If she really holds you as dear as I think she does, Fox, she will undoubtedly try to use that offer. And then, my newest test subject will have walked right into my lap, and I will finally be able to produce the perfect warrior by augmenting her already perfect skills and attributes to superior levels with my technology. And then, _nothing_ will ever stand in our way again!" the alien finished slowly and malevolently.

Mikki involuntarily felt his hands clenching into fists, rage flowing through him. He stared Ki'Lek down coldly. "Dude… you just threatened Krystal and Fox. And that's punishable by _death_ in my book!" he said firmly. Fox chimed in shortly after, his voice filled with hatred as he had finally realized that this psychopathic extraterrestrial being fabricated plans to harm the love of his life..

"Despite your brilliant intellect, there's something you're forgetting. We won't die!" he said determinedly. Ki'Lek only responded with a malicious smile.

"My little vulpine friend, you're also forgetting something. _My_ friends are eager to meet you as well, filthy Cornerians! And I'll let them! They haven't seen combat yet, but they can get a taste, can't they?" he said maliciously and pressed a little red button on the control panel. The steel doors in the sides of the cave opened, and another horde of Exterminators emerged from these small housing caves with blazing laser cannons.

Fox, Shield, Bill and the Cornerians immediately started dodging laser beams and, while being graced a few times that they could almost not feel, returning fire. Suddenly, after placing a blaster shot squarely between the eyes of an approaching Exterminator, Fox shouted out, "Shield! The cloak-man's getting away!" Fox had been keeping half an eye on the suspicious-looking computer panel, and now it seemed like Ki'Lek had gotten the time he needed by distracting the soldiers, for he punched in a few last commands on the computer, and then turned tail and started to run away from the podium. However, Mikki could also be fast if the situation required it of him, and he would certainly not let this psychopath get away, so he gave chase as fast as he could.

Ki'Lek sprinted through the large cave, running past many big and small stalagmites in order to hinder Shield's course the most. But Mikki did not think as advanced as Ki'Lek in such a situation, and that clearly gave him the advantage, for he simply decided to run in a large arc around the stalagmites and intercept the cloaked alien at the door that he planned to escape through.

As he ran, Shield swung his Gatling-gun in a large swing over to the right with tremendous force, effectively snapping the neck of an Exterminator by his side in the process and simultaneously placing the weapon at his side. As he grabbed hold of his rocket launcher, which he intended to draw, he spun it around, so that it came off his back and into his hands, and made a powerful thrust forward with the pointy end of the launcher where the projectile was sitting, thus using it as a melee weapon. The reason for this was the Exterminator that had stepped up in front of him and now raised its laser cannon to riddle him with laser beams. Its face was crunched to a bloody mass by the pointy rocket and the tremendous force behind the thrust, and the cyborg fell down, moaning and writhing in pain on the ground and clawing helplessly into the air.

Ki'Lek could see the door to freedom approaching, and he started to smile widely. He took a look back over his shoulder to see how his Exterminators were doing. There were still plenty of them left, although he had to admire the courage and fighting skill of the Cornerians when under pressure. As he turned his head back and looked forward, he was paralyzed with fright when he saw Mikki's massive figure filling out the doorway.

He could not move because of fear, shock and surprise, and he began to stammer uncontrollably, desperately trying to evoke just the slightest bit of mercy in the angered being, who stood before him. The brilliant alien could not believe how a mere foot soldier could have outsmarted him. Upon hearing Ki'Lek's stammering, Shield raised his rocket launcher as a club. "Do not… try… to run!" he bellowed, before swinging the rocket launcher with all his might. It collided with the side of Ki'Lek's head with a very audible _thwack_, and the alien fell down lifelessly.

Mikki turned around to make sure that everyone was still alive. Fox, Bill and the other Cornerians were fighting bravely to keep the vast number of Exterminators away. Shield could also tell from their way of moving that they were close to being completely exhausted by the constant dodging and returning of laser fire.

"_Shield!_" Bill shouted desperately, "Take out that control panel! If that doesn't control them, I don't know what does!"

"Got it!" Mikki answered in return as he aligned his aim on the computer console in the middle of the room; the one which Ki'Lek had been typing on a few moments ago. He double-checked to make sure that there was nothing in the way of the trajectory of his rocket, and then he fired. The rocket flew through the cave at an incredible speed, before engulfing the entire computer console in an explosion. Sparks of electricity started to spurt from the now utterly destroyed and useless equipment. And the plan did have an effect:

As two Exterminators raised their laser cannons towards Fox, he tightened every muscle in his body instinctively, so that he was ready to dodge their fire. But it never came. He relaxed his muscles again and looked at his enemies. It was as if they were permanently frozen in time; not just these two, but every single Exterminator in the cave compound. Bill approached one of them carefully. "I think…" he said, giving the cyborg a gentle push, which made it slump to the floor like a rag-doll, "that we did it. We _fucking_ _did it!_" he shouted, giving Fox a happy high-five. The other Cornerian soldiers started cheering as well.

They were all interrupted by the sudden grunt coming from Shield, as an opponent, whom they thought to be long-gone, apparently wanted revenge. Ki'Lek had risen from the floor, and he now tried to cling himself tightly around Mikki's neck, hoping to choke him. He was bleeding very badly from the side of his head where the rocket launcher had hit him.

"Y_ou bastards! _You impudent, filthy, misbegotten Cornerian bastards! You've destroyed my entire life's work! _You will die!_" he screamed madly at everyone at the top of his lungs, purely out of insanity, and tightened his grip around Shield's neck.

But this did not seem to bother Mikki at all. On the contrary, he gave off a satisfied "Hm!" when he found a pointed stalactite of the right size, which he went under, Ki'Lek still clinging to his neck like an obnoxious parasite, but without doing any significant damage. To the awestruck Cornerians, it looked as if Mikki were simply just carrying the alien around.

When he stood directly under the stalactite, Shield said to Ki'Lek in a rather muffled voice because of the extreme grip around his neck, "Hey, dude, try and relax your muscles a little! Here, let me help you!", whereupon he clamped his right hand tightly around Ki'Lek's jaw, making the alien scream in pain, albeit muffled because his mouth was clamped together as well, and jerked his head upwards, which resulted in the pointed stalactite smashing through the back and skull of the alien's head with a wet crunching sound. Ki'Lek gave off a long gurgling gasp before all the muscles in his body relaxed themselves simultaneously, making him fall limply to the floor, a red pool of blood forming under the back of his head.

Mikki brushed himself off with a happy smile and then looked to the Cornerians. At first, nobody said anything, but then Bill raised his voice, "_Man!_ That was some display of force, Shield! Well done!" he said admiringly, backed up by applauses from the others, and Shield nodded thankfully.

"And I think that we've done our job now!" Fox said. "Every cyborg in this complex isn't functioning at all, so I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be like that all over Corneria City. And we owe Bill one now for the tip that brought us here.". As an answer to Fox's assumption about the Exterminators not working in other parts of the city, Mikki's walkie-talkie crackled to life and a message came from someone on the other end who spoke with a distinctive British accent:

"This is Ghost. I'm at the Army Base, and I've just seen Krystal engage Reevo in combat, but he's way too tough for her, even though she insisted on doing it alone, so she's in major trouble. I was on my way to help her, despite of her insisting, before I was encountered by too many cyborgs to count. But all of a sudden, they've just stopped dead. Someone must've disabled their control system or something like that. If that's you, Shield or Fox, extremely well done. I owe you one! Now, requesting back-up from all Star Fox and G-Wing members. Meet me at the Army Base. Until then, I'm resuming my primary objective at the moment: Moving to help Krystal, and engage and intercept Reevo. See you! Ghost out!".

After this report, everyone was silent and at a loss of words, until Fox broke it, "Did you hear that!" he shouted desperately, "Krystal's in trouble, and Ghost's requesting our aid! We've got to get there, _now!_". And with that, he ran point through the cave. He only stopped outside to say a touching goodbye to Bill and his men, who insisted on saving more civilians. Fox supported their noble cause and wished them good luck before running on, with Mikki keeping up excellently. They headed towards the Army Base, fully intent on solving this crisis, no matter what.

The large flock of surviving Cornerians, along with the two Cerinians, slowly made its way through the city streets. The once proud Cornerian skyscrapers loomed on either side as bombed out skeletons or relics from a time long past, even though Corneria had looked like itself until a few hours ago. Falco drove at the front in his newly captured hovercar, while Katt and Saber each covered a flank of the flock.

Suddenly, Katt spoke up, "I recognize this neighbourhood. We shouldn't be far from the refuge centre now. It's only just a few more streets from here. Cheer up, everyone!" she said, and it provoked a few hesitant smiles from a couple of Cornerians in the crowd. But overall, most of them were too focused on just reaching the destination safely, so they felt no need to smile. And the smiles of those who did smile were quickly removed from their faces, when the group turned around the next corner.

A roadblock of sorts had been set up – actually, it did not consist of much more than some chunks of wall piled on top of each other – and ten Exterminators stood by this point. As the group approached the enemies, Falco slowed his hovercar down and came to a halt in front of the roadblock. "What do you want now?" he asked the nearest Exterminator irritably.

The cyborg looked at him with its vacant stare, "Cornerians, you have not complied with our orders. You have tried to escape us, when we ordered you to come with us. For this, you will be terminated," it stated monotonously, whereupon the Exterminators all raised their laser cannons. A frightened mumbling began to erupt within the group of Cornerians; they knew that they would be an easy target if the monstrosities started to open fire, but each and every one of them was actually hoping deep inside that something unexpected would happen and save them from a brutal slaughter.

And the murmur of fear was abruptly stopped when someone yelled "YO!" and John stepped forward, "I've got an important thing to say!" he shouted to the leading Exterminator. It thought about it for a moment, and then raised its other hand without the laser cannon, which made every cyborg trooper lower its cannon.

Saber walked forwards calmly until he stopped at the very roadblock, the ten Exterminators surrounding him from the sides, five on either side. "Speak!" one of them rasped. John took a deep breath, "Okay, guys. What I'm about to say here is _really_ important, so listen up…". He paused, and then pointed a finger at the nearest cyborg. "I'm gonna kick _your _ass…!" he shouted and then pointed his finger at another Exterminator. "… and then I'm gonna kick _his_ ass! And then I'll kick _his_ ass…!" he reeled off, each time pointing to a different Exterminator. "And finally, I'm gonna kick _your_ ass!" he finished firmly, pointing to the last Exterminator with a wide smile. After this rather unusual way of taunting opponents, the Exterminators stared at him vacantly and did not move an inch; this was not something that they had expected, and their circuits were running frantically, trying to decide what to do with the information that they had jyst been given.

Suddenly, laughter broke out from the crowd of survivors, and it quickly spread to Saber, who could not help laughing a bit himself. He also found it extremely funny that he could look death in the eye as he had just done with no sorrow or worries whatsoever, and that humour could be his rather untraditional defence against obliteration. But then, John's expression became stern.

"Hey, seriously, I mean it!" he said, before swiftly drawing Ragetooth with one hand and plunging it violently through the stomach of the nearest cyborg, while drawing his blaster from its holster with his other hand and firing a shot straight through the metal coating around the head of one of the Exterminators. It fell to the ground, twitching. The other cyborgs turned their attention towards John, but they were stopped in attacking him fully by Katt and Falco who opened fire with their blasters, effectively eliminating four of the hostiles.

Meanwhile, Saber was completely absorbed in his "ballet" with Ragetooth, which he had pulled out of the stomach of the Exterminator he had eliminated before. As three Exterminators closed in on him from different angles, he thrust his sword through the stomach of one of them, before he quickly yanked it out again, making the dead enemy slump to the ground, spun around gracefully in a semi-circle and cut the throat of another cyborg at his other side. He used the power that he had obtained from the slash and the half-way spin to move around in a complete circle and slash directly down through the last of the surrounding enemies. A cascade of blood pulsed out of the wound and, just like all the others, this Exterminator fell to the ground as well.

As John turned around, he was faced with the last enemy out of the ten that had been there to begin with. As it raised its laser cannon, he quickly directed a powerful kick towards one of its kneecaps. The kneecap broke with a _crunch_, and the Exterminator fell to its knees. As it was slumped down like this, Saber stepped behind it, raised Ragetooth and brought the katana downwards towards the back of the creature's neck in a furious slash that severed the cyborg's spinal cord. It swayed on its knees for a moment, but then fell limply to the ground.

After all this, John stood still for a moment and sat his cap right on his head before he stuck Ragetooth back into its sheath. He looked at his dust-grey vest and was surprised to see that his clothes had not been stained with blood at all. Then, he looked at Falco and smirked, "Well, well, feather-boy, it seems that I'm just _so_ much better than you! Because those guys…" he pointed to the Exterminators that he had killed "… they got some of John's _blade_… huh… they got some of John's _blade_…" As always, John did not waste a chance to taunt one of his allies when he did great himself. Falco looked at him, and then smiled for one of the first times as far as Saber could remember. The avian always kept a sort of "poker-face" on to conceal his innermost thoughts, and when he smiled, it was almost always more of a smirk than a smile. But this was a genuine smile out of joy.

"Heh! Alright, I'll admit it. You owned those freaks pretty hard!" he said, while Katt also nodded approvingly. Swordplay was not something she was used to seeing in this particle-weapon dominated solar system, and the excellent swordsmanship that John had just demonstrated was a form of combat, which was unrivalled by anything she had ever seen before. The pink feline felt deeply fascinated by this and was almost certain with herself that such abilities could only come from intensive training.

"Great job, Saber! I've never seen anyone fight like that before. Especially with a sword. You must've trained intensively!"Katt said admiringly, but Saber just waved his hand at her, "Nah, not really. What you've just seen is natural talent and attitude… and believe me, I've got much of both!" he grinned.

He paused as he felt someone tugging at his sleeve. He looked to his side, and saw Erena staring at him with wide eyes. "Is it… over?" she asked, pronouncing her words very carefully, so she was sure that he got the right meaning out of them. He answered her by looking her sincerely in the eye and saying, "Yeah, it's over… At least for now! And if those freaks try to do something again, I'll cut them to shreds!" he mumbled angrily, the memory of the obnoxious and brutal invaders always standing in his way and attempting to harm his friends flaming up inside him. Nothing could get him on edge as the two Exterminators that had intruded upon Erena and Qatou's private space. Now, he had defeated them and a bunch of other cyborgs as well, and he was on his way to lead his Cerinian friends to safety. And nothing would hinder him in it, he concluded with himself, before ordering authoritatively, "Let's move!".

Falco started the engines of his hovercar, and the crowd began to move again. But as they rounded the corner to the street where the refuge centre was located a bit further down, all hope was now completely shattered at the sight of another group of Exterminators obstructing their path. When he saw this, John began to swell with anger and frustration. It seemed that every time he tried to accomplish something, a bunch of losers would hinder him and stand in his way. "But it won't be today!", he thought to himself and walked towards the group of cyborgs.

"Alright, _that's it!_" he shouted angrily, "I'm sick and tired of you guys constantly standing in our way and eliminating innocent Cornerians. They haven't done a thing to you! Why don't you all just go home to your lousy planet and plug your frigging recharging devices into your asses? Tell me that! Well, if you want these Cornerians, you'll have to come through me first!" With that, he drew his katana from the sheath on his back, swung it around in the air for a while, just to emphasize that he was serious, and entered his combat-ready stance.

The Exterminators said nothing; they just raised their laser cannons and were about to fire. But then, something weird happened. They all twitched simultaneously for a short time and then stood completely still. Saber went as close as he dared to one of them and waved his hand in front of its eyes. It did not react. "What the hell…?" he mumbled, and then he shouted into its face. And still, the cyborg did not react. As he toppled it over with a foot sweep, it fell limply to the ground where it kept lying. It made no attempts to get up, and the other Exterminators did not fire or move at all. Slowly, John turned around to face the group, sheathing his sword, "Guys," he said, "I think someone just sabotaged their free will or power drive or something. They don't do a thing; it's as if something in them is broken all of a sudden. They aren't functioning at all!".

This statement triggered a loud shout of happiness from Erena, Qatou and the Cornerians, as all of them realized that the pressing threat of the cyborgs was over. They could let go of the dark burden of fear, which had built up inside them as they had walked through the dismal and desolate city towards the refuge centre, and they all knew that they could thank their elite escort for it.

Falco happily activated his hovercar at full speed, ploughing through the Exterminators like they were not there, with Katt, Saber and the survivors following. And as they went, John's cell phone, which functioned as his comm. unit, began to ring in his pocket, along with Falco's comlink. As they answered the call, they got the same message from Ghost as Mikki was getting in the cave right now; it was being sent to every Star Fox and G-Wing comm. device. When the transmission ended, Saber and Falco looked at each other and nodded. John climbed into the hovercar, and the blue avian started turning the vehicle around. "Hey, where are you going?" Katt asked questioningly.

Saber looked at her, understanding her bafflement perfectly. He would feel exactly the same if his buddies from G-Wing suddenly changed drection during a mission and began to walk away from him in the middle of a combat situation. And as such, he felt compelled to tell Katt the truth, instead of giving her some quickly made-up explanation along with Falco before driving away at full speed.

"We've just received an emergency transmission from a guy on my team. He's asking for backup, and we'll provide it, although I should've known that he was too much of a sissy to handle himself. But you can't argue against your commander, I'm afraid. You can take care of the survivors, now that the cyborg psychos are out of the way and the refuge centre is just down the road. Well, time to love you and leave you, Katt! Nice seeing you and talking to you!" he said, and smiled as he shook the hand of the pink feline.

Kat smiled back as she squeezed his hand, but then she looked pleadingly at Falco, "Saber hit the head on the nail with that "Love you and leave you". That's exactly what you did all those years ago. But I feel like... I don't know... that this distance and absence has maybe lasted long enough. Won't you come back, so we can see each other again?" she asked softly.

Falco had somehow known all along that the conversation would turn to revolve around this subject, and yet he was completely unprepared, when it was laid out to him so directly as now. With him, it worked best if he could take all sorts of steps to begin with before moving on to the real issue, effectively delaying the heart of the matter, so that he could think about something catchy to say. And because of Katt's direct nature, his mind was caught completely off guard. Plus, he had to consider the fact that he had John with him, and if he learned about his soft spot, he would not get one minute of rest. And even though it hurt him to the innermost of his soul to say it, the only answer that Falco managed to mumble out was a rushed and hazy "Maybe.", before he and John sped off through the city in the hovercar, heading for the Army Base.

As the red laser beams flew around his ears, Jakob ran from the smashed reception desk, which had been completely obliterated by the continuous laser fire, towards a wide couch at the other side of the lobby. He had hid behind the reception desk for a very long time, taking potshots at his enemies whenever he could, but now it seemed that the desk had done its duty. With a billowing trenchcoat and blazing SMGs, he spun his body around to avoid some of the more accurate shots as he ran, and made a maniacal jump for it when he was near enough to the couch, not ceasing fire from his weapons at any time, which resulted in a few Exterminators succumbing to the white laser fire.

But the rest kept up their persistent fire as Ghost landed on the other side of the couch with a roll. He pressed his back against it, and found out that it was surprisingly sturdy, since it could take a large quantum of laser fire. Every so often, he popped out from behind his cover and fired at his enemies. And it was while doing this that he realized something, which, for some reason, had eluded him until now.  
"As Mikki said before our mission to Daytin, I don't really need Krystal!" he thought, and shivered a bit as the truth struck him.

However obvious it was, it was still strange for him to think of, now that he had spent so much time with her. He leaned out once again to shoot at the Exterminators, and it was as if someone else was controlling his body and movements. He aimed precisely at their vital spots, helped greatly by the aiming feature built into his vision intensifier, and then sprayed some short salvoes out from his dual wielded laser-SMGs before ducking back into cover.

"So _that's_ what they call experience!" he thought. "To do something as automatically as I just did. Well, I owe a great deal to myself, but equally as much to Krystal. If she hadn't suddenly been forced to leave some of her missions with me that we were sent on, I would never have found out how it really is to work alone, apart from training sometimes. Involuntarily, when she was sniped or hurt, for instance, she has forced me to enhance my skills when working alone, but she has also helped me hone them in our training sessions!".

Here, Jakob stopped his train of thought in order to pop out and fire again, and as he took down some more enemies, he felt the weird sensation of experience again: That he was not in complete control of his own body and movements when firing. Ghost ducked back into cover and resumed his thinking, while the laser fire slammed against the couch.

"Now I've felt it two times, and I'm pretty sure that it's experience. I've done this so many times by myself that it has become automated. I don't think about where I aim, I just do it. I don't think about when or how to dodge a shot, I just do it. My vision intensifier helps me point out my targets. And I haven't been hit a single time yet,despite the fact that I only trust my instincts when dodging, and they're not alwaysone hundred percent accurate! I don't think it's luck, I think it's a sign. I can handle myself on missions without Krystal now!"

As if that final conclusion was a cue to a higher power, the laser fire suddenly stopped. Cautiously, Jakob stepped out into the open and saw that each and every one of the Exterminators stood completely frozen; their laser cannons were still raised, but no laser beams were coming from them, even though their target was standing completely without protection of any kind. He walked around to a couple of them and tried to make them move, but nothing happened at all.

Then, Ghost realized that someone had probably taken out their main power core or something, presumably Shield or Fox, since they wanted to locate the source of these invaders. He decided to ask for back-up from the others, as he reasoned himself to be in a rather hopeless situation. In his mind, Jakob summarized his current status:

He wanted to help Krystal, although she had insisted that he should not, but he just had a feeling of devotion and friendship towards her, which he could not neglect. If she died by the hand of this Cerinian psychopath, Fox would never forgive him and he would surely be excluded from Team G-Wing. Jakob could not imagine a fate like that. He admired the skills and liked the company of his friends Shield and Saber too much to think about not working with them in the future.

So if he died in his attempt to help Krystal, Mikki and John would be there to clean out the remaining mess. He sent a brief transmission to all Star Fox and G-Wing comlinks about what had happened and what he was going to do. After that, he holstered his SMGs, since he expected them to be pretty much out of energy, drew his blasters instead, and rushed up the central flight of stairs, until he reached the twentieth floor, where he went through the door to Pepper's office.

The first thing he saw when he entered was Reevo landing a very powerful punch on Krystal's jaw with his staff. They were standing in the doorway leading to the balcony, and his punch sent her flying through the office, where she landed at Pepper's glass desk. It broke under her weight, and she crawled around a bit in the shards before she succumbed to exhaustion and lay still on the floor. As she did this, her staff fell from her hand and rolled a bit away from her. Pepper did nothing; he just sat there, completely immobilized by shock.

"Hmph. Useless!" Reevo mumbled disapprovingly as he stepped closer to Krystal and raised his staff to impale her through her stomach, fully intent on ending this bothersome family matter here and now.

"Do _not_ harm that vixen, or I'll blast the living crap out of you!" a voice with a British accent snarled from the door leading into the office. Reevo looked to the side in surprise and saw a figure clad in a night-black trenchcoat walking towards him, pointing two metallic blasters at him. As Krystal heard the voice, her eyes opened weakly, "Ghost?" she mumbled.

Reevo smiled a cold smile as the figure approached him, "And who might you be? Her knight in shining armour?" he said emotionlessly. To this, the armed stranger shook his head before replying casually, albeit with an edge of anger and coldness in his voice, "Nope, she already has such a knight. I'm just her friend. But still, I get pretty pissed when people beat my friends to pulps, so I'm sure you'll understand!" Ghost said, raising his blasters to aim properly.

"Go ahead. Shoot!" Reevo said malevolently, "I've got nothing to live for, anyway!" In his mind, he really wanted this bold stranger to shoot, because he would easily be able to absorb the shots with his staff, before impaling him through his impudent little head. And then, Krystal's last line of defence would be gone, at least for now, and he could solve the strife as he saw fit. Reevo turned his front against the stranger and spread both arms out to the sides, giving him a clear line of sight to his heart. As Ghiost raised the blasters to take aim, Reevo could not help but smirk a little, "Come on, you naive fool. Give in to temptation!" the Cerinian thought as he awaited the shots, gripping his staff tightly to be ready to swing it.

Jakob thought about it for a moment and then put his blasters back into their holsters, finding it very strange that the orchestrator of this ressource-consuming invasion invited and compelled him to shoot, just like that, and even offered him a free shot at his heart. And furthermore, he did not let go of his staff. Something had to be beneath the surface of this suicidal gesture, and in his reply to the Cerinian, he stated what he thought it was, "Nah, it won't work. You'll just absorb it with your staff like you did with my sniper shot. I think I'll beat you up instead!" he said vengefully.

Reevo smiled evilly yet again, "Good! You've learned your lesson. Shooting skills can't measure the resolve of a true warrior, but fighting skills can. Pick your weapon, "friend"!" he smirked and got into his own battle-ready pose.

"Heh! I got half an hour of staff training! Is that good enough for you?" Ghost said and thought to himself: "I _knew_ that training on the Great Fox would come in handy someday!"

As he bent down to pick up Krystal's staff, he said into her ear, "Hello, Krystal! You don't mind if I borrow this for a while, do you?", while he simultaneously gripped her staff firmly, feeling the unfamiliar feeling of Krazoan energy coursing through his hand as he clenched it tightly around the engraved and decorated weapon.

The cerulean vixen looked back at him wonderingly, "_Jakob?_ What are you doing here?" she asked worriedly, not quite understanding why he had come, despite her very clear stating that he should not, before they parted ways outside the Army Base.

"I'm just trying to save your life, nothing more. It seemed to me like you needed a hand!" he said as he got back up, remembering the fierce duel, which he had witnessed through his scope. Deep down inside, Ghost could not ignore the fact that he was in for a beating just as similar, but if he should endure this pain to keep Krystal, Mikki and John alive, it was the least he could do. Jakob could not escape the thought that, if he failed and died, Reevo would dispose of Krystal and just as easily of Shield and Saber and the rest of Team Star Fox as they came because of his call. And he would gladly endure pain to keep that from happening.

Krystal tried desperately one last time to get him to leave, "But, Ghost… the prophecy… this isn't your battle!" she said pleadingly trying to make him grasp the veracity of her statement.

"Don't worry, Krystal!" he said as he got into his own fighting stance with the staff bent slightly behind his back, staring Reevo down angrily. "I'll prove the prophecy was wrong!"

And then, he used the same tactic as he had done when training with Krystal. He ran a couple of paces forward and lunged at Reevo, his trenchcoat billowing behind him, a shout of rage coming from his mouth. From what he had been able to make out from the flurry of swings that he had seen on the balcony, their fighting style was quite similar, so he expected Reevo to follow up with a counter-attack. And right he was, for Reevo parried his attack and then made the exact same counter-swing as Krystal had done.

But this time, Jakob was prepared, so he parried the incoming attack and got a free swing at Reevo's ribs, which he smashed Krystal's staff into with all the power he could muster. Reevo flinched and took a couple of steps backwards, but then he smiled menacingly, "A lucky strike, eh? You may have some skill, but rest assured that that strike will be your _last!_".

As he finished this line, he ran forwards, fuelled by anger, and started swinging his azure staff in a complex series of swings and thrusts. Ghost tried his best to deflect and parry all of them, but naturally, he could not keep a virtuoso with the staff at bay for too long, so more and more swings and thrusts started smashing into his limbs and other places on his body. Jakob started to feel the pain and exhaustion that came with such a combat, until he made up his mind.

"I'm getting pummelled like Krystal now. But there _is_ no fucking spoon! I can do this!" he thought. With this added boost of resolve, he suddenly parried some of Reevo's incoming attacks, before finally managing to break through his defences by locking the azure staff against the floor. Ghost could see the doubt about what happened painted across the Cerinian's face, before he spun Krystal's staff around in his hand, whacking Reevo across the face numerous times, each impact followed by a _thud_ and the whimper of his adversary, before finally thrusting the staff into Reevo's stomach.

The Cerinian fell over with a cry of pain, but got up swiftly and unleashed a violent charge against Jakob. He narrowly avoided Reevo's crushing blow by raising his staff, so that the two staffs clashed together in a lock.  
Ghost found himself in the same situation as on the Great Fox, and he knew that he could not afford to be pushed away. He could feel Reevo's extreme strength as the Cerinian increased the force in his push. "Your technique is rusty!" Jakob hissed angrily at Reevo, hoping that the taunt would demoralize him for just the second he needed. But on the contrary, it only seemed to provoke Reevo more, so that he pushed even harder.

"Well, I've also been derived of my home for one and a half years, living constantly on the run. So no doubt about that! But I don't want to hear it from the mouth of a pitiful creature like you!" Reevo stated coldly, before suddenly applying all of his strength to the push. Ghost was not prepared for this, and soon found himself staggering across the floor, trying to regain his footing and orientation. But it was too late: Reevo's punches and swings with the azure Staff of Waves already rained down upon him like a hailstorm. When the Cerinian delivered the final swing to the side of his head, he just fell over on the floor; he was too exhausted to put up a decent fight.

"How utterly pathetic! How achingly predictable!" Reevo said malevolently as he stepped up next to Jakob, who looked at him through a haze of pain, which he could also feel thumping through his aching body, "I could read your every move while we fought. That fighting style must be _so_ embarrassing for you to walk around with. But I can help you forget all about it. I can put you out of your misery!" He whispered the last part angrily and raised his staff in much the same fashion as before. Ghost looked on as he saw this. He knew that death was coming, but he wanted to _see_ it coming.

Suddenly, a lot of running footsteps could be heard from the door leading into the office. Whoever was in the lead seemed to be singing a rap song, and it only grew stronger as this person came closer, "Reevo, get back!... Reevo, get _back!_... Get _BACK_, now, Reevo, you don't know me like _that_!" As he pronounced the "that", a very audible _thud_ could be heard, and Reevo fell over on the ground with a scream of pain.

A second later, John appeared in Jakob's line of sight with a wide smile on his face, shaking his fist. "Hi, J-man! Shit, I've always wanted to do that, but that guy has got a hard jaw! Plus, I think it fitted the situation!" he grinned.

Mikki appeared not long after. "Hey, sir! It's good to see you're still alive! Come on, let's get you on your feet!". Shield and Saber pulled the half-unconscious Ghost up from the floor and got him to stand.

Krystal had also gotten up during the fight and was now checking her fur for shards. The Star Fox Team stood behind G-Wing and coolly observed it all. As Pepper saw the Star Fox Team, he immediately ran over to Fox and began thanking him for saving his life, and asking him if he knew what was going on. Fox tried to answer the general's questions as fully as possible, while Jakob tried to comprehend the scenery before him.

"But… what about _him?_" he asked, pointing to the knocked-out Reevo. Mikki looked at him and said sincerely: "This is Krystal's battle, man, not yours. So let her fight it!"

Ghost only thought about it for two seconds before he extended his hand with the golden staff, "Krystal, I think this is yours. And thanks for letting me borrow it! You can take him, I'm sure. And you know what they say: Hell hath no fury like a… hmm… vixen scorned!" he said and smiled at his own pun, as she took the staff from him and gave him a smile in return.

Then, Krystal went out onto the balcony and shouted to Reevo, who was slowly recovering from his unconsciousness. "Reevo! I'm out here! Come and get me!" Upon hearing this, a flame of rage ignited itself in Reevo's eyes. He picked up his azure Staff of Waves, got up on his feet and ran out onto the balcony, controlled by pure rage, screaming wildly. But Krystal knew how to use that rage against him, and that would be his demise.

As he charged violently towards her, he swung his staff around in a lethal swipe. As the staff was just about to hit her, Krystal parried the swing, which collided with her staff so profoundly that the Staff of Waves was knocked out of Reevo's hands by the impeact and sent whirling through the air and over the balcony, effectively disorientating him for a few seconds. The cerulean vixen then spun around gracefully and thrust the sharp end of her staff, the one without the head, straight through his heart.

A squirt of blood shot out from his back, followed by the end of the staff, and Reevo gasped in pain. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth and spoke; it was pretty impressive that he could still do that while impaled through the heart, "So… this is truly how it ends," he whispered weakly, "I die and my sister lives. But I feel no pity for what I've done, no shame. She is just too narrow-minded to grasp the glorious complexity of my vision!" He paused, and his gaze became vacant and hazy. He started to smile, "I can see the void…!" he whispered excitedly, "Yes… there it is. I don't need you anymore, Krystal… For now I'm truly coming home!".

After he had said that, Krystal pulled the staff out of his chest, letting that be his last words. Reevo staggered backwards, the blood pulsating from his chest, until he collided with the balustrade. Because he was so disoriented, he could not control his movements, and therefore he fell over the balustrade. He gave a gurgling cry as he fell down, and the only other sound that was heard from him was the muffled _crunch_, which indicated that his body had hit the pavement below.

Krystal looked out into the starry night for some time, her back turned to the others. Then, she turned around, tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes like diamonds contrasting the emeralds, which were her irises, "The prophecy has been fulfilled. I've delivered the fatal blow. He was a bastard…", she said with a voice that trembled with sorrow, "… but he was still my brother!" And then, Krystal began to cry inconsolably. Fox immediately went to her and offered her his shoulder to cry on. She took the offer without a second thought.

Quietly, John mumbled to Mikki and Jakob, "Let's leave them alone for some time, dudes. I think they need it. We can wait for them in the lobby." The others nodded without a word, and Team G-Wing turned around and went out of the office silently.


	15. Chapter 14: Returning Home

**Chapter 14: Returning Home ****  
**  
From lieutenant John (Saber)'s log: _Day 12 (entry AGAIN!): Man, that was the coolest thing I've ever experienced! I just hope that we'll liberate some more planets in the future, because that ROCKS! I PWNED all of those cyborg psychos that provoked me! Go, Saber! And Ghost's finally decided to work by himself. That was about time! Then he can spend some more time with us… he said it himself! __  
_  
From commander Jakob (Ghost)'s log: _00:35, Lylatian Standard Time. Happiness… but also sadness. These are the two feelings that are fighting within me. Happiness because we managed to liberate Corneria fully (the rebuilding of the damaged houses and city parts and the hunt for the last cyborgs have already begun, I have been informed), but also sadness because I decided to terminate the cooperation with a person, with whom I have been working for a long time now. Naturally, I mean Krystal. But as she said, that will not terminate our friendship. Now I can spend some more time with the guys, without having to worry about her dying on me constantly. It will work, I am sure. __  
_  
From sergeant Mikki (Shield)'s log: _Well, after all what we've been through down on Corneria, I'll say that Pepper could send us to do almost anything. Man, we should have a slogan: "Team G-Wing: Send us, and we'll OWN!". Nah, maybe not. But it was a nice feeling to liberate an entire world, no doubt about that. Okay, I'd better get some WoW going…_

The two teams slowly made their way out of the heavily damaged Corneria City. After Krystal had finished her mourning on the balcony, Team Star Fox had joined G-Wing in the lobby of the Army Base, accompanied by Pepper, who ordered the teams to return to the Great Fox and get some rest… for there would be a large ceremony in their honour tomorrow. But as they walked through the city, they could feel that something was different.

The air was not as thick with the same kind of ominous feeling as it had been when they entered the city on their mission. It was still night, but the city did not look so threatening anymore, despite the bombed-out remains of the once so glorious buildings and gaping holes in the roads, almost resembling deep, horrible wounds in the skin of the planet itself. The teams concluded that it was because of their brilliant work. The fear of the invaders was gone, now that they had reduced them to walking, ineffective piles of metal and flesh. On their way out, they also saw several Split-Fighters, which had apparently just fallen from the sky – probably also when the main computer had been destroyed – and now stood as weird, copper-coloured sculptures at some places in the Cornerian landscape.

John was contacted by an official from the Cornerian Army as the teams were on their way out. He was informed that all the survivors they had escorted to the refuge centre had arrived safely, and he heaved a sigh of relief, seeing that all the valiant deeds he had performed to save his Cerinian friends had not been in vain. However, they did not hear a thing from Bill or Katt. For as Falco said, "Shadows from the past will always remain shadows. That's the matter with Bill and Katt. They appear when you don't expect them to, but otherwise they don't show up!"

As the teams reached the beginning of the hilly landscape outside of town and started making their way towards their Arwings, Jakob let himself fall behind by a couple of paces, so that he eventually ended at Krystal's side. He had excused himself to Shield and Saber, saying that he had to attend to some "personal matters". As the cerulean vixen saw him, she smiled widely, "Oh, hi Ghost! What's up?".

He looked at her rather gloomily before heaving a deep sigh. Deep inside, Jakob feared this conversation, but ever since his weird feeling of experience at the Army Base, he had known that this would come: The time, where he had to give up his career of working with Krystal. There was really no point in her following him around on missions, Ghost realized, if he was truly capable of taking care of himself, which he had proved to himself that he was by fighting the vast force of Exterminators so successfully. If Krystal continued to be assigned with him, it would just be a waste of truly valuable resources, which could just as easily be used elsewhere. And then, he would be able to spend some more time with his true and good friends Mikki and John, who had certainly been there for him both on Earth and in Lylat. If he spent some more time with them, Jakob felt that he could attempt to bridge the small gap that he sensed had formed between them after his being assigned with Krystal.

Furthermore, it had irked him that the cerulean vixen did not have as much time to spend with Fox, the great love of her life, as she would have if she were not assigned to missions all the time. Her care was wasted on Ghost, and he literally felt it like a waste. Fox had so much more reason to be cared about by Krystal, seeing as how they loved each other. Jakob only considered himself Krystal's friend and comrade in arms, and why he should be exposed to the same intensive care and good heart of Krystal eluded him completely, "But that's maybe just what friendship does to you!" he thought, smiling wryly, albeit also sourly, to himself, because of the fact that just struck him. Indeed, he cared intensively about the blue-furred vixen as well, and would stop at nothing to avenge an injustice or harm, which had been bestowed on her. But why it should be the other way around was a mystery to him.

As she saw the drastic change in Jakob's eyes, demeanour and facial expression, Krystal's own expression immediately changed to that of concern instead of happiness, "Hey… what's wrong?" she asked him softly, tilting her head a bit so she could look him in the eye. Ghost returned her stare and began speaking slowly, choosing his words carefully as not to upset the cerulean vixen or give a false impression of his message: And he soon found that, after having spoken the first words, he did not have to contemplate them anymore: His heart and instincts had taken over from his brain, placing just the right words in his mouth

"Krystal, the past six months have been some of the best in my life. Not only have I seen a solar system that's quite different from my own, not only have I shared some incredible experiences along with Mikki and John, but I have also made your acquaintance. And that's one of the best things that have ever happened to me. You've become a close friend over these six months; the experiences we've shared have increased that friendship, and you've always stood by me when I was in trouble or danger. I thank you for that. We also work together splendidly, but that's what I want to tell you."

"All the times when you couldn't help me – when you were shot by Von Ernst, when I fought Rayne on Orakar 5, not to mention the mission here today – you've forced me to work on my solo-skills and experience, so to speak. And these two things have grown so strong now. I've suddenly realized that I can survive without your help. I'll stick to Mikki and John. And then I won't have to torture my mind with making sure you don't die. You can handle yourself just fine. And then you'll have plenty of time to look after Fox instead of me. Now, Krystal, _please_ don't take this as a refusal of our friendship, but just a realization from my side. You're still a very close friend to me, and I'm glad that you took the time to get to know me..."

He paused as he felt a comforting arm around his shoulders, provided by the cerulean vixen at his side. He looked up and saw Krystal looking at him with a serious expression on her face. And as she spoke, her tone of voice was also quite serious, "Yes, I always did. And I always will. Know you, I mean. And even though we won't work together regularly, we can still be forced by Pepper, can't we?" she smiled before turning serious again.

"This won't terminate our friendship in _any_ way. I'm just glad that you can take care of yourself. And mark my words: I'll always be there for you if you need me, just say the word. And I'll be your friend for life. Always." Krystal said sincerely. Ghost looked at her with a wry smile on his face,"Prove it!" he said jokingly. He had not expected Krystal to do a thing, so he was quite surprised when she gave him a short but intense hug, using all the strength she could muster, finally convincing him that she really meant it. "Remember it. Always." Krystal said into his ear before letting go.

Jakob ran up in front to Mikki and John. Shield looked at him, "So, did you solve those personal matters of yours?" he asked, to which Ghost answered with an affirmative "Yeah!"

John looked at him with a weird, undeterminable glint in his eyes. Really, it was the glint of joy, but it also looked as though Saber himself took some happiness from his friend's parting with his fellow Cerinian comrade, "That was about time, dude! Seriously, you were beginning to hang around with that vixen too much for your own good!" he laughed.

"Yeah, I know that. Now, when we're sent on missions, it's just the three of us that'll own, just as it should be! _OWN_, I say!" he shouted and all three of them laughed, finally getting the feeling to be just G-Wing and three friends reunited, with no Krystal coming in from the sideline.

As they finally caught sight of their Arwings, they saw a large crowd of Cornerian animals standing around them, with Slippy in the middle. "What the hell? The Cornerian press!" Fox said in surprise, before sprinting towards the Arwings with the others following close behind.

As they reached the crowd and started to push themselves through it, they could hear Slippy squeal: "Fox, I tried to stop them, but they were so persistent!".

Fox answered with a "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Slip!", before he reached a position in front of the Arwings where all the journalists could see him. "Guys!" he shouted. "I've got good news! The invasion of Corneria has been repelled!"

"How about their leader? What happened to him?" a young tiger shouted.

Krystal spoke up, "He's traversing the void… to a better place than here. That's all I have to say!" The poor cerulean vixen could not get herself to elaborate the serious conflict of feeling within her very being, and certainly not to the disaster-hungry Cornerian popular press.

"Commander Ghosssst!" a lizard from the Cornerian Liberal Magazine hissed; they were a group of extremely xenophobic journalists, "How isss it possssible for you to think that three sssshaved monkeyssss like you and your friendssss can ssssave an entire planet from danger?"

"Hey! Who're you calling shaved monkeys!" John shouted aggressively, feeling the piercing insult hitting just where it should, damaging his ego and high self-esteem.

"We're Team G-Wing, and we've got _skills_, dude! That's why!". Mikki chimed in. "And it's pretty fun to do all this. The more you crush, the more fun you have!" he grinned.

Jakob spoke up as the last, "They've said it pretty much: Skill and a positive mind. And all the funny experiences that we can share with each other. It doesn't matter that we're not Cornerians, as long as the skill and will's there. Then these shaved monkeys will continue to protect the Lylat System along with Team Star Fox. Any further questions should be given to general Pepper!" he grinned, before the two teams, Star Fox and G-Wing, boarded their Arwings to return to the Great Fox, where they would stay until Mikki, John and Jakob should go back to Earth, or – more likely – until the next mission called for them…

Three days later, Fox appeared at the conference room of the Cornerian Fleet Acadmy along with Krystal. The golden-furred vulpine and the cerulean vixen clearly looked woebegone to the eye, and for once, appearances were not deceiving. From the conference room, being broadcasted by hologram directly to any and all involved branches of the Cornerian military, Fox and Krystal each gave their short, calm and concise statements of how things were, Krystal not even minding that a small shimmering tear formed in the corner of her eye as she spoke, before they departed to the Great Fox. As they entered the bridge, not even the presence of Falco, Peppy and Slippy, who also looked rather depressed and weary, could lift the gloomy mood that had struck the Star Fox Team on the day before.

Team G-Wing had left for Earth, feeling a strong desire to get back home and get on with their earthly lives and educational careers after an absence from their planet, which had lasted for six months. It was understandable, Team Star Fox knew, but nothing could now seem to fill the immense vanity, which had suddenly befallen the Great Fox after the departure of the three loyal Earth-dwellers. Shield could no longer shield them from the crushing despair and sadness, which struck so suddenly; Saber would have a hard time cutting through the air with his ever so vigorous humour and remarks; and Ghost had truly become a ghost, now existing only in their memory. But, deep beneath the layers of grief and sorrow, each and every one of the Star Fox crewmembers knew that Mikki, John and Jakob were returning to a safe place, to what they lived for and what they deemed right.

They were returning home...

**_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_** Well, that was it for G-Wing... at least this time around! I have a sequel to this story already in the works, but I still need some time to iron out the huge bulges there are in the plot, let alone finish it. But rest assured, my faithful readers and fans, you will see a sequel to G-Wing here some time in the future! (Approximately two to three months from now.)

A great and heartfelt thank you from me goes out to all of you for your reading this story, and for all of the helpful and inspiring reviews I've gotten. I surely hope that we will meet again, so... Goodbye for now!


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